10 h. ago I was a chess prodigy trapped in a religious cult. It left me with years of fear and self

Growing up dirt poor in Arizona’s Church of Immortal Consciousness, I showed an early talent for the game. Soon the cult’s leader began grooming me to become a grandmaster – even if it meant separating me from my mother When I first discovered chess, after watching the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer on HBO, I was a nine-year-old kid living in a tiny village in the mountains of Arizona. Because of its title, many people think the film is about Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who bested the Soviet Union in 1972, defeating Boris Spassky to become the first US-born world chess champion in history. Really, it’s about how the American chess world was desperate to find the next Bobby Fischer after the first one disappeared. The story follows Josh Waitzkin, a kid from Greenwich Village in New York, who sits down at a chess board with a bunch of homeless dudes in the park one day and miraculously discovers that he’s a child prodigy – at least that is the Hollywood version of the...

Politics

25 h. ago Football team trapped in horror crash as 'windows explode' and eight injured

Luxembourg men’s under-21s team were involved in a frightening incident that saw players hit by shattered glass and debris when their team bus veered off the road at around 50mph

Events

29 h. ago The animal abuse tourist traps you need to be aware of: How holidaymakers are being duped into participating in cruelty... from cock

Recent investigations have begun to shine light on the dark underworld of tourism traps, where animals great and small are abused, beaten and killed

Events

34 h. ago I tried the DIY fruit fly trap that only needs two household ingredients

Fruit flies are a common pest in UK households - but there's an easy way to get rid of them

Events

38 h. ago Taliban left Afghan women 'to die under rubble' following huge earthquakes as strict religious code meant men couldn't touch them, reports claim

The first major quake struck just after midnight on Monday at a depth of only six miles, killing more than 2,200 people, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble.

Events

48 h. ago Explosive Ghislaine Maxwell claims caught on camera during dating app honeypot trap as White House forced into urgent damage control

Joseph Schnitt, Acting Deputy Chief, was caught on camera making the claims about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to a woman he met on Hinge.

Events

2 d. ago Afghan earthquake death toll jumps to more than 2,200, say Taliban

Aid agencies plead for funds as rough terrain hinders relief effort and 98% of buildings in one province are damagedHundreds more bodies have been recovered from houses in mountain villages destroyed by a major earthquake in Afghanistan early this week, pushing the death toll to more than 2,200, a Taliban government spokesperson said Thursday.The shallow, magnitude-6.0 quake struck the mountainous and remote eastern part of the country late on Sunday, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. Most of the casualties have been in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep river valleys separated by high mountains. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago 2,200 people confirmed dead in devastating Afghanistan earthquake after huge number of undiscovered bodies are found

A 6.0-magnitude quake struck several provinces of the mountainous and remote east of the country on Sunday night, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble.

Events

3 d. ago When did reality dating shows become as hellish as the real thing?

As the BBC launches its new series ‘Stranded on Honeymoon Island’, Ellie Muir looks at how ‘no distraction’ reality dating shows pander to a societal disappointment with modern romance, but have fallen into the trap of becoming as repetitive and boring as the apps they’re trying to help us escape from

Politics

4 d. ago A boy contemplates life from a caravan window: Nik Roche’s best photograph

‘This kid went into the caravan and looked out at me. Does he look reflective? Sad? I think he is staring out of the window and seeing the world at his feet’Having designed and built gardens all my life, I bought my first camera when I was 47. Photography gave me an opportunity to have conversations about myself through questioning others. I don’t just take some snaps and then go, I fully immerse myself in the lives of the friends I make. Who am I to speak on anybody’s behalf if I haven’t experienced what they have, myself?I photograph where I live, in south Wales, because I know it better than anywhere else, but in this case I wanted to document a community I lived near but wasn’t part of. The body of work this picture is part of came about as a result of working with people who have been in and out of prison and become trapped in a cycle of incarceration, freedom then back to incarceration. I was wondering what draws them back to the place where they committed all their crimes. Co...

Culture

4 d. ago Five Brendan Rodgers Celtic warnings that came home to roost amid self

It’s a familiar sense of deja vu as Rodgers finds himself trapped in the same old cycle at Celtic

Events

4 d. ago Terrifying moment trapeze artist attempts the splits and plunges 30ft from tightrope as audience screams

A 19-year-old trapeze artist fell 30 feet after losing her balance on a tightrope during a performance in southern Colombia.

Events

4 d. ago Veteran having 86th race can land the odds – Jason Heavey's Wednesday racing tips

The Daily Star Chief Tipster says Temper Trap – who has won 16 races – can gain another success at Hamilton on Wednesday. Here he has tips from all four meetings.

Politics

5 d. ago Brit trapped in Amazon rainforest for 18 days makes miracle escape

Callan Bole was trapped in the Amazon rainforest for 18 days and feared he was going to die before a twist of fate meant that he was able to escape relatively unharmed

Politics

5 d. ago Tube passengers escorted through dark tunnel after being trapped on Jubilee line train for three hours

Commuters were eventually led out of the train through a dark Tube tunnel

Politics

5 d. ago Drownings of schoolboy and man during water sports to be probed

Kayden Walker, from Bridgeton, Glasgow, died after becoming trapped on the upstream side of a weir while on a day trip with the Church House community group.

Sport

5 d. ago More than 1,400 dead in Afghanistan earthquake with many more trapped under rubble and death toll expected to keep rising following devastating 6.0 quake

The Afghan Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday that at least 1,124 people are confirmed dead and 3,251 have been hurt, with more than 8,000 homes destroyed.

Events

5 d. ago Afghanistan earthquake death toll passes 1,400 as Taliban appeal for aid

Rescuers search into the night for people trapped under debris of mud and stone homes in steep valleysThe Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more injured.Rescuers searched into the night on Monday for survivors after the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago More than 1,100 dead in Afghanistan earthquake with many more trapped under rubble and death toll expected to keep rising following devastating 6.0 quake

The Afghan Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday that at least 1,124 people are confirmed dead and 3,251 have been hurt, with more than 8,000 homes destroyed.

Events

5 d. ago Afghanistan earthquake: Taliban appeal for aid as death toll rises to 900

Rescuers search into the night for people trapped under debris of mud and stone homes in steep valleysThe Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 900 people and left thousands injured.Rescuers searched into the night on Monday for survivors after the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan. Continue reading...

Events