Tag: LAD Bible Weird

A man has been charged with murder after a pregnant woman was found dead inside a burning van in Wales earlier this month.

The body of Samantha Natalie Phythian, known as Sammi, was discovered in the van on Gas Works Lane in Prestatyn on 4 October.

At an inquest into her death this week, John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said the 35-year-old was pronounced dead at 11.30pm and was identified through her DNA, WalesOnline reports.

Home Office consultant pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers said Sammi’s provisional cause of death is ‘inhalation of smoke and fire gases’.

Thomas Matthew Hammond Bell, 38, has been charged with murder. He is set to enter a formal plea on 27 November, with a provisional trial date scheduled for April next year.

North Wales police confirmed that a second man, 47, has been arrested.

Detective Chief Inspector Zoie Dunkerley stated: “Our investigations into this incident are moving at pace, and we are currently exploring every avenue of information open to us.

“I would like to thank those members of the community who have already contacted us, and ask that anyone else who has any information, however small to contact us via our live webchat or on 101 quoting reference number 26000816112.”

Dunkerley added: “My thoughts are with Sammi’s family and friends. I would also urge the community to be careful of commenting anything which would add to the family’s distress or interfere with the ongoing active legal proceedings.”

In a tribute, Sammi’s family described her as a ‘much-loved mum, daughter, sister, auntie and friend’.

The family said: “Samantha, who everyone knows as Sammi, will be remembered for the special place she held in the hearts of everyone who knew and loved her.

“Her tragic and untimely death has left her family and friends devastated, struggling to come to terms with the loss of someone who meant so much to so many.

“No family should ever have to endure the pain of losing a loved one in such circumstances.

“While her life has been cruelly cut short, the memories she created, the love she gave and the lives she touched will never be forgotten.

“She will forever be cherished by those who loved her, and she will be deeply missed.

“As a family, we would like to ask people to be mindful and respectful of rumours circulating over social media platforms at this devastating time.”

Records have revealed the eyewatering salaries that OpenAI’s UK staff are paid and I promise you, it’s going to have you rushing off to polish up your CV.

It’s no secret that AI is big business these days, with Anthropic, the company behind Claude, valued at a whopping $965 billion back in May (£728bn), and OpenAI seeking a $1.4 trillion (around £1tn) valuation just last month.

With such massive numbers, it probably comes as little surprise that the team working at such companies are impressively compensated.

And now accounts have been revealed that show just how generously staff are paid.

Last year’s acounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, which is based in Westminster, showed that there were 110 staff members who split £87m in salaries and £168m in shares in the company.

Doing a quick bit of maths, that means the average salary was £2,318,181 last year.

See? I told you, you’d want to go and sort your CV out.

For a bit of context, the Office of National Statistics found that the median annual earnings for full-time employees in the UK was £39,039.

So using this average salary, you’d need to work 58 years to match the average salary of a UK-based OpenAI worker.

However, according to the Guardian, there’s reportedly a large discrepancy between the AI company’s lowest and highest earners.

The largest pay packets are dished out to researchers who help to build OpenAI’s models, including Astra.

It’s also important to note that the figures are from 2025 when there was a bit of a talent war amongst AI companies to land themselves the best and brightest staff.

Other companies in the space, such as Meta, were reportedly offering multi-year salary packages that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

When approached by the Guardian, OpenAI declined to comment on its salaries.

Meanwhile, last month, it was revealed that OpenAI was offering up very generous compensation packages as it builds out its robotics efforts.

The company had more than two dozen robotics jobs listed on its careers page in September, across various areas, including software, hardware and data collection.

And these new roles came with some top-notch salaries, with publicly available information showing that the base wages ran from a way-above-average $177,000 (£133,600) to a frankly-staggering $500,000 (£377,400) a year, before equity.

The roles on offer included a lab tech tasked with helping to ‘develop, build, test, and iterate on robotic systems’ and actuator design engineers who are responsible for building the various parts of bots that help them move.

The highest-paid listing, as reported by Business Insider, was for a role for a ‘machine learning engineer’ who would be working on distributed data systems, infrastructure for processing, and moving huge amounts of robotics training data across computers.

Now, while that might all sound like an awful lot to get your head around, it does come with a salary of a half a million dollars per year.

Anyone else wishing they’d paid more attention in their IT classes?

Half of the public say under no circumstances they would go to war for the UK, according to a new poll.

48 percent of voters said they would not join the army, despite the ongoing threat from the likes of Russia, China and Iran.

Ipsos said the figure is unchanged from last year’s poll, as 36 percent, this year, said there were circumstances in which they would fight, up one percent from previous.

Hamish Mundell, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said there were questions about ‘Britain’s willingness to fight and make sacrifices’, but added the Ipsos poll did not suggest the country would be unable to mobilise in the event of WW3.

“I think the most important thing to take away from this polling is that we should be careful about confusing what people say they would do in peacetime with how they might actually behave in a national emergency,” he told the Press Association.

Mundell thinks the army won’t be overly concerned by the poll because their main concern is being able to train and prepare people for war, not getting extra people to sign up.

He added: “I can’t see the number of people willing to fight decreasing if the UK started suffering at the hands of a foreign power during a conflict.”

In the male category, more people said they would fight than would not, with 48 percent saying there were circumstances in which they would go to war, while 40 percent saying they would not be willing to do so.

The majority of women and people aged 35-54 said they would not fight, the poll found.

Although Mundell said the figures were ‘hardly surprising’, he said it was ‘disheartening that we don’t seem to have any form of leadership from the Government on a pathway to Britain’s 3.5 percent Nato commitment’.

Last year, the UK and other Nato allies agreed to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on ‘core defence’ by 2035 under pressure from Donald Trump to increase military spending.

Mundell added: “I am sceptical that we need another national conversation before we can make those decisions.

“We need political leaders to explain the threats facing the country, set out what needs to be done and just go and do it, even where that might prove contentious.”

The Ipsos poll surveyed 1,090 British adults between 29 September and 1 October.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “In an increasingly dangerous world, we are stepping up to protect the UK.

“There has never been a more important time to join defence and with more people now joining the armed forces than leaving, that reflects the growing confidence in the opportunities and benefits that service life offers.

“This Government is determined to build on that progress.

“A career in the armed forces provides incredible opportunities for people from all backgrounds to develop their skills, fulfil their potential and come together in the shared defence of our nation.”

The mother of a 10-year-old girl who poured nail polish remover in her eyes says she can’t wait for a blanket ban on social media for under-16s to come into effect.

Rebecca Soal said she was horrified to discover her 10-year-old daughter, Phoebe, had wiped the solvent across her lips before putting several drops in each eye after seeing an influencer ‘hack’ on social media.

“This stupid video said it’s a good alternative to eye drops,” Rebecca, from Caerphilly, Wales, said.

“She went into the bathroom, grabbed my nail varnish remover, tapped it on a cotton bud and wiped it all over her lips.

“Then she dropped [some] drops in each eye.”

The stay-at-home mum revealed that she only became aware that Phoebe had done so after smelling nail varnish remover while taking her younger daughter upstairs to bed.

“I got that gut feeling, I went to my daughter, and it clicked. It was frightening,” the mum said. “Her lips and eyes were red.”

Rebecca went on to explain that it took a while for Phoebe to admit that she’d used the nail polish remover after seeing videos online, adding: “They use water in the videos to gain likes, they’re joking, but kids take it literally.

“We’ve seen a lot of similar videos and it’s absolutely disgusting.”

“You don’t expect kids to take part in trends.”

Petrified that her daughter had permanently damaged her eyesight, Rebecca rushed her daughter to the hospital, where doctors flushed each eye with a litre of saline water in order to ensure all of the chemicals were washed out.

While the nail polish remover was acetone-free, meaning that Phoebe avoided causing serious permanent damage to her eyes, the family do not know how her vision will be affected in the long term.

“We’re waiting for a specialist appointment for her eyes,” Rebecca explained. “So we don’t have the full picture at the moment.”

Phoebe also suffered a chemical burn to her lips, which the family are treating with Vaseline to make sure it doesn’t crack.

“Doctors said she was really lucky,” she added.

Rebecca has since banned her children from social media, stating that the family were now going to be a lot more ‘vigilant’ when it comes to monitoring their online activity.

She is also in full support of the UK’s upcoming social media ban, which will effectively lock anyone under the age of 16 out of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.

Announced back in June, the Labour government hoped the move, which mirrors a similar social media ban in Australia, will kickstart a ‘cultural shift’ and allow children to grow up offline.

“It’s just scary. We can’t wait for this government ban because it’s not safe to do anything anymore,” she said.

“They go on YouTube to watch their favourite Roblox videos, you don’t expect kids to take part in trends,” she continued.

“All my children now are on a ban, we can’t take any more risks.”

When approached about the videos, YouTube said it was investigating how the clips made it onto the platform. A quick search on the video-sharing platform returned no results for nail polish remover hacks.

“Be more vigilant with your children,” Rebecca added. “I know you trust your children, but do you trust them enough not to be influenced?

“I’m hoping she understands what she has done now.”

Romania sent up two of its F-16 fighter jets after it detected an ‘aerial target’ near the eastern NATO border today.

The Ministry of National Defence of Romania (MApN) said the ‘aerial target; briefly entered its airspace near Sulina, before it moved over the black sea.

The target then entered Ukrainian airspace, where it was quickly shot down by Ukraine’s air defence system, MApN said.

MApN said the target had been spotted by its radar surveillance system this morning (14 October) and notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations to trigger alert measures for parts of Tulcea County.

An emergency message was sent to phones for those impacted at around 10.20am local time.

And MApN scrambled two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft.

The air alert ended at 11.22am and the public warning was lifted.

NATO member Romania borders Ukraine and has frequently had to scramble its military aircraft in response to drone activity near the border.

On Tuesday (13 October), a drone hit two ships off the coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea, sinking one.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev, said one of the ships was sailing under the Maltese flag and was hit by three drones at around 1.30am local time.

The second ship, which was sailing under the flag of St Kitts and Nevis, was also hit and sank with one sailor rescued.

In recent weeks, several senior European officials and intelligence services have warned that Russia may be planning to test the NATO alliance with increased covert attacks or even an incursion after a spate of sabotage incidents across the continent.

Denmark’s defence intelligence service specifically warned Russia could use such tactics to split the NATO alliance.

Earlier this week, a top NATO military commander said the alliance is ‘ready to fight tonight’ if it is attacked.

US General Alexus Grynkewich said that he doesn’t believe a conflict is imminent or inevitable but went on to say that the most effective way to preserve peace is to prepare for war and to maintain open lines of communication to ‘resolve misunderstandings’.

Gen Grynkewich provided no specific details about what kind of attack Nato is preparing for, nor where, nor with what kind of forces.

But outlining what a response to a Russian attack could look like, Gen Grynkewich said Nato’s combined land, sea and air forces will move to stop Moscow seizing territory and deny Russia the ability to hold ground.

“My theory of victory is simple,” he said at the Warsaw Security Forum.

“We will block the initial attack. If the attack persists, we will blunt it and prevent any enemy advance. And if required, we will break the enemy’s forces and the operational war-fighting system arrayed against us.”

This includes not just the attacking force but anything and everything that supports, sustains and controls it, he said.

Gen Grynkewich added that it is important that NATO alliance members co-ordinate a ‘coherent’ response to Russian activity to make it clear to Moscow ‘where our red lines are’.

Baba Vanga has some chilling predictions for the next few months, including a change in leadership in Russia and fears of World War III.

The infamous psychic has previously been credited with predicting some huge events, including the 9/11 terror attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bulgarian grandmother died in August 1996, but before she passed she made a number of predictions, many of which are still to come.

For this year, Baba Vanga’s predictions reportedly included natural disasters, which we’ve sadly seen.

She also warned that this is the year that humans may begin to find themselves replaced by machines, which echoes concerns about job losses some AI experts have issued.

As we hurtle towards the end of the year there are still a few predictions the mystic made that are on the horizon.

Baba Vanga reportedly predicted that Russia will have a new leader by 2027, ending Vladimir Putin’s 26-year run and potentially ushering in a new era of political turmoil that could see conflicts sparking out between world powers.

In fact, both Baba Vanga and fellow psychic Nostradamus both believed this could be the year that World War Three kicks off.

And if that isn’t enough to put a damper on your day, then Baba Vanga also predicted that by November the first aliens will arrive on Earth, meaning next month could be lively.

Looking ahead to next year, it seems as though some of us could end with super-human powers.

According to the psychic, in 2027 some folks may end up with ‘superhuman-like traits’ with the prophecy suggesting it could be caused by a mysterious disease or genetic experiment – sounds a bit like the plot of The Boys, doesn’t it?

Of course, these are only predictions and it probably doesn’t make much sense to plan your life around some guesses someone made decades ago.

Alongside that, Baba Vanga never actually wrote her predictions down, instead, they were passed on to those closest to her, including her niece Krasimira Stoyanova.

This means that things can be misinterpreted or misunderstood, especially as more time passes.

And, as you may have noticed, lots of the predictions made by Baba Vanga are pretty vague so they can’t really be pointed to as rock-solid proof of what’s to come.

A scientist once predicted the world would end next month

As well as Baba Vanga’s prediction that aliens might be rocking by the end of next month, back in the 1960s Austrian physicist Heinz von Foerster predicted that the world would end on 13 November 2026.

Yep, that means if von Foerster is correct then we’ve got less than a month left.

Unlike Baba Vanga, who relied on her psychic powers, von Foerster examined 24 estimates of the world’s population spanning a couple of thousand years to see how fast population growth was expanding.

His research showed that where it used to take centuries for the population to double, it had since sped up and each doubling had happened quicker than its predecessor.

The scientist claimed that if things continued in this way, then there would come a point where these doublings would be so rapid we’d run out of space and – as he put it – end up ‘squeezed to death’.

A study has found that more than one in 10 new cancer cases around the globe in 2024 were the result of an initial infection by bacteria or viruses.

The study, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, suggested that this means a significant proportion of the cancers diagnosed globally could be prevented by addressing the infections which cause them.

Gary Clifford is a cancer epidemiologist who co-authored the study, and suggested that targeting the root causes is already possible, and may reduce the need for more complicated and unpleasant cancer treatments.

“We have very actionable targets,” he said. “We have very many tools against these viruses already.”

This could include public health measures such as vaccine programs to help protect populations against viruses, the Washington Post reports.

Such measures have already proven effective in slowing the spread of human papillomavirus, HPV, which is particularly linked to cervical cancer, as well as other forms of cancer.

“Viruses are not designed or evolved to cause cancer,” said Clifford, “but it can be a side effect.”

Other viruses linked to cancer include the Epstein-Barr virus, which is generally asymptomatic but can cause nasopharyngeal cancer, as well as Hepatitis B which can cause liver cancer.

There is also Helicobacter pylori, which is a kind of bacteria that can lead to stomach cancer.

Altogether, diseases were linked to approximately 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2024, which made up around 12 percent of the 20 million new cases in that year, and a similar figure to 2018.

The fact that the figure hasn’t changed much in those six years was called ‘alarming’ by professor of epidemiology at Harvard University Lorelei Mucci, who called it a ‘failure of public health’.

“We really know how to prevent a lot of these cancers from happening by preventing the infection,” said Mucci.

Study co-author Harriet Rumgay, who is an epidemiologist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, highlighted that the more recent study covers a larger range of diseases linked to cancer, which may reflect in the figures.

Nonetheless, she agreed that it appears to have mostly stayed similar.

There are things that you can do to mitigate your risk, and one of them is getting vaccinated.

The HPV vaccine is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) ‘starting the HPV vaccine series between 9 and 12 years’, meanwhile the hepatitis B vaccine is recommended to be administered to all infants.

Clifford observed that the impact of vaccine programs may not yet show in the figures.

“The impact is coming,” Clifford said. “The vaccinated cohorts are already protected, but we haven’t yet seen it in the cancer rates, but we will.”

However, the emphasis in the programs is on maintaining effective public health programs, which can itself be impacted by funding cuts, as well as growing hesitancy around vaccines.

Donald Trump’s second administration ahas involved buts to foreign aid, including global health initiatives which could support vaccine programs.

Meanwhile, a move by US federal officials to bring an end to hepatitis B birth-dose was suspended by a federal judge in March.

Donald Trump has credited deportations to a maximum-security prison where inmates are dubbed ‘dead men walking’ for curbing crime in the US – so what is life like in the world’s most notorious jail?

45 miles east of El Salvador’s capital city lies the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a 40,000-capacity mega-prison which has been central to President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on organised crime across the Central American country.

Since opening its doors in January 2023, the controversial mega-prison has been at the centre of a human rights controversy, with critics alleging that prisoners’ human rights are being violated.

However, the prison also has numerous influential supporters, with the US leader being one of them.

Trump gave a shout-out to the jail ahead of the upcoming US midterm elections on his Truth Social account, claiming the US is sending its ‘killers, drug dealers and thugs’ to El Salvador, before going on to claim: “This is why murder and other crimes in America are at record lows.”

Inside CECOT’s ‘cemetery of living men’

Access to CECOT is notoriously difficult, with the El Salvadorian government controlling what is reported to the outside world.

This was evident during Richard Madeley’s Channel 5 documentary, Richard Madeley: Inside the World’s Mega Prison, when the broadcaster struggled to get answers from the prison guards or interview time with one of the jail’s inmates.

However, Madeley was able to get a pretty decent picture of what a day in the life of a CECOT inmate looks like – and it’s absolutely brutal.

Lights are kept on in the prison 24/7, meaning that inmates are forced to sleep under blinding artificial light.

However, this doesn’t mean that inmates will never see darkness again in their lives, as CECOT’s isolation cells are pitch-black and completely silent, meaning that troublesome inmates sent there spend 30 days groping around in the dark.

“[The main prison] would seem like freedom,” Madeley said after viewing one of the prison’s 92 isolation cells. “Boy, you would do exactly what you are told.”

When it comes to meals, the inmates are given 1800 calories a day and live off a diet of rice, beans and a tortilla, all of which are eaten by hand, as cutlery is not allowed.

Inmates also spend 23.5 hours a day locked inside mega cells, only being allowed out for light exercise.

Recreation is also banned, with the only book available to inmates being the Bible.

Is Donald Trump sending US prisoners to CECOT?

Trump’s post seemingly suggests that US criminals have been deported to CECOT, but how accurate is this?

In March 2025, it was reported that 261 Venezuelans were expelled to CECOT from the US under Trump’s mass-deportation policy. They were later released back to Venezuela in July, becoming the only inmates to leave the prison.

Former inmates were also able to provide testimonies about their treatment inside CECOT, with one person claiming the jail’s director, Belarmino García, told them the following upon arrival: “Welcome to hell. Welcome to the cemetery of living men. The only way you leave here is dead.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed earlier this month that 100 El Salvadorans had been deported to the country. However, it is unclear whether or not they were detained at CECOT.

A 44-year-old woman who had fallen from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Odyssey of the Seas earlier this month was found alive and rescued from the water after a 20-hour ordeal.

The woman, an El Salvador native, had been on the Mediterranean cruise which had been sailing off the coast of Greece, with the vessel having departed from Italy on 4 October for a week-long voyage.

According to a release from the Hellenic Coast Guard, she had fallen into the water on the morning of 9 October and spent around 20 hours in the water before she was found.

With a woman overboard, a ‘local emergency plan’ was triggered which alerted other vessels in the area, deploying rescue vessels and a helicopter to join the search.

It was a cargo ship, the MSC Rossella III, which had been participating in the search effort that ultimately found the woman.

The coastguard shared footage of the moment the woman was rescued, with her being spotted floating in the water in an orange life ring before a rope was thrown over to her.

Crew on board the ship asked her if she was alright and she was able to grab the rope and pull herself closer to the cargo ship.

Take a look at the moment she was rescued below:

She received first aid after getting brought on board and was then brought to Katakolo in Greece where she was taken to hospital for ‘medical monitoring and medical examinations’.

A preliminary investigation into the matter has been launched, but fortunately the 44-year-old woman overboard was rescued alive and well.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “We immediately launched a search and rescue effort and are working with authorities.

“Our Care Team is actively providing support and assistance to the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time. For the privacy of the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share.”

What happens when someone falls overboard on a cruise ship?

When someone falls overboard on a cruise ship a protocol kicks into place which results in the ship logging the location where the ‘man overboard’ warning was issued to give themselves and other vessels an idea of where to look.

The sea is a vast expanse that often lacks distinctive features or landmarks, so having the right coordinates as a starting point is crucial.

Vessel crews are trained on how to act when responding to someone in the water, so they know exactly what they have to do when the search begins and how best to conduct themselves.

Sadly, despite it being a scenario crews train properly, for the survival rate for people going overboard into the sea is low, so it is very fortunate that the woman who spent 20 hours in the water was recovered alive.

Donald Trump has been told to delete the AI generated video where he has put himself in the Yorkshire tiger attack which shows him playing with the animal.

William Chapman died of his injuries at the weekend (10 October) after he climbed into the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, he was declared dead at the scene and footage of the incident has been shared online despite police asking people not to do so.

The US president put his own spin on sharing the footage as he posted an AI video of him in Chapman’s place but the tiger plays with him instead of mauling him, and Piers Morgan has told him to take it down.

“This is appallingly tasteless. Delete it, President Donald Trump,” he wrote on social media as he reacted to Trump’s latest actions, joining those who have condemned the decision.

It seems Morgan is an agreement with others who have said it was ‘absolutely disgusting’ for Trump to post an AI mockup of a man’s death and put himself in it.

Trump had shared the original clip which depicted the tiger attacking Chapman, having captioned it ‘don’t ever mess with nature’, and he has been called a ‘complete disgrace’ for doing so.

Chapman, 23, was hailed by his family as ‘bright, warm and engaging’, with them saying he had ‘suffered significant mental illness’ over the course of several years.

His family asked people to stop sharing ‘deeply offensive’ content of him being attacked by the tiger, saying in a statement yesterday: “The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

“The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.

“The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their upmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.”

Yorkshire Wildlife Park remains closed while they work with the authorities as part of their investigation, though they have confirmed that the tiger will not be put down.

It is not known why Chapman, who had been a child actor on BBC and ITV shows, climbed into the tiger enclosure as witnesses said that everything happened very quickly.

Others in the park said they were quickly evacuated, and one said that Chapman had asked someone to take his photo by the enclosure with the tiger in the background.

One woman said that he had been ‘pacing around with his headphones in’ and then ‘climbed up onto the barriers’ before approaching the tiger.

She said that he then started shouting for help.