Category: News

The father of one of the girls killed at a dance class in Southport last year says his local community has been “so kind” and “amazing with us” as he prepares to run a fundraising marathon.

Sergio Aguiar is raising money to build a new playground, including a performance stage and library, at Churchtown Primary School, where his daughter Alice was a pupil.

Sergio, whose daughter was nine when she died, told BBC Breakfast: “I feel like we’re doing something great. In the next few years, thousands of children will enjoy that playground.”

He is running the London Marathon next month as part of a community effort to raise £250,000 for the project.

“We always said that the school felt like a second home to Alice,” said Sergio. “She had a 100% attendance record last year – she never missed a day.”

The playground will also be dedicated to Bebe King, who died in the same attack aged six, as she had previously attended the school.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was also killed at the dance class in July last year. Axel Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced in January to a minimum of 52 years in prison for their murders.

Sergio, who is the first of the victims’ parents to give a live interview, added: “[Alice] would be very proud of us [creating] this playground. I can imagine how happy she would be to see it. I wish she could have enjoyed it.”

With six weeks until the marathon, Sergio’s training efforts appear to be going well after undertaking an 18-mile run recently.

He has even started taking ice baths at home to aid his preparation. He said: “I think it is harder than the training!”

Joining him on the run will be Jinnie Payne, the head teacher at Churchtown Primary School, who said the building of the playground would be completed by September if they could reach the fundraising target.

“That is [the start of] Alice’s classmates’ final year at Churchtown and they would have that playground to play in … the legacy of Alice and Bebe,” she told BBC Breakfast.

As of Saturday morning, more than half of the fundraising target has been achieved with individual donations ranging from a few pounds to £10,000 given by an anonymous individual.

“People are so kind,” Sergio said, thanking the community for their support. “They come up to me and say ‘well done, the playground will be amazing.’”

Footballers Diogo Jota and Beto, who play for Liverpool and Everton respectively, sent surprise messages of encouragement via the BBC to Sergio – who settled in the UK after moving from Portugal.

Beto, speaking in Portuguese, said: “Hello Sergio, hello Mrs Payne. Beto here from Everton. I want to send you a message to wish you best of luck for the London Marathon. What you are doing is fantastic and we hope the training is going well. You have all of the support from everyone at Everton. Take care and best of luck.”

Jota told Sergio: “Hello Sergio, I just heard you were about to run the London Marathon for an amazing cause. We are all with you here at Liverpool, so go on and do your best!”

Sergio, smiling, thanked them for the messages and revealed he had a Jota shirt at home because he is a Porto fan, where Jota played before moving to the Premier League in 2017.

Slate Plus members get more Care and Feeding every week. Have a question about kids, parenting, or family life? Submit it here!

Dear Care and Feeding,

We are currently getting our daughter registered for next year’s pre-K program, which has to be completed by the end of this month and is a binding commitment. It involves choosing between full- or half-day (morning or afternoon) options and selecting whether or not to participate in district-provided transportation. My mother-in-law wants very much to provide care for my daughter around pre-K and has let us know that she thinks the best option is for our daughter to attend either of the half-day programs, with her picking up/dropping off and watching her for the remainder of the day. My husband and I had been seriously considering this, because she’s great with our daughter and we know she would enjoy this arrangement; our daughter would too.

However, my mother-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer. She is in the testing stage to determine details and treatment plans. Nevertheless, she continued to urge us to accept the half-day program and decline transportation.

Both our kids (we also have a younger son) are currently in full-time day care, although my mother-in-law had offered to watch them full-time when I went back to work. We felt that having both kids all day was significantly more than she could reasonably handle. But the idea of her taking on half-day care of our daughter alone seemed like a good one—a perfect way for us to give her more contact with one kid at a time. Since the cancer diagnosis, though, I don’t think making a plan that hinges on her being available and feeling well enough for multiple hours every day is wise, since we don’t have a reliable backup and my husband and I both work jobs with limited flexibility. I think we need to schedule our daughter for the full-day session and use the district’s transport, which would pick her up just before my husband needs to leave for work, and bring her home just after I get home from work. My husband agrees, but he had been hesitant to have this conversation with his mom, as he knew it would hurt her, and she is already so stressed by her diagnosis and all the unknown factors it entails.

We have now talked with her and my father-in-law and, as expected, she was very upset. She told us how much she had been looking forward to the extra time with our daughter (then our son the following year, assuming we would make the same arrangement once he was in pre-K) and emphasized that we don’t know how she’d feel or be doing next year—telling us she might well be fine by then. She also expressed worry about our daughter being at school for the full day (we don’t share these worries; we have no doubt she is ready for that). We agreed that the future is unknown, but reminded her that we need to make a binding decision by the end of this month, so we have to work with the information available now and in the next few weeks. We assured her that we would arrange for her to see the kids both together and separately regularly (as we already do) and would absolutely consider this arrangement for our son the following year, depending on the circumstances when the time for that decision comes. She ultimately agreed that it was the right choice, but was definitely distressed.

My FIL stayed quiet through the discussion, but later that night, he called us and berated us, saying that we had just let them know that we were sure my MIL was going to die. He said we should be ashamed of ourselves for taking away something that was giving her so much to look forward to and reminded us that patient attitude plays a factor in treatment outcomes, basically saying that if she doesn’t have a positive outcome from the cancer treatments, it will be our fault for suggesting she might not be well enough to carry out this childcare plan. My husband was great. While I sat in stunned silence, he calmly told his father that this diagnosis is scary for everyone, but he doesn’t get to take his stress over the situation out on us. He told him that we were making the best decision we could in a crummy situation. My FIL hung up on us.  My husband sat with me on the couch and cried, saying that he knew that was exactly how this would go.

We know we are making the best decision we can, but is there something more/different we can do with my in-laws to help them process it?

—Too Much Unknown

Dear Unknown,

I think you’re doing the best you can. I suspect your mother-in-law sees this—or will—and that your father-in-law behaved as he did because anxiety, fear, and dread can make people behave in awful ways. I understand where your husband was coming from when he responded as he did (and no doubt there is a long history between them that played out at this heightened emotional juncture too), but perhaps he could be a little gentler with his father. He might acknowledge that his father is so understandably distraught he said some hurtful things he’s sure he didn’t mean. He might even apologize for the “you don’t get to take it out on us”—which was not your husband’s best moment—but aside from that (if he can bring himself to do that; I hope he can), I don’t believe there is much that can be done right now.

His parents are in for a long, hard ride. They’re both going to need a lot of support. You’re doing the right thing for your family (I would have done the same); now it’s time to move on from that discussion. It’s done. Where your in-laws are concerned, concentrate on being loving and supportive and on making an (even greater than usual) effort to bring your children and their grandmother together. If the childcare arrangements come up again, all you need to say is, “As you know, that’s all settled now,” then change the subject.

—Michelle

More Advice From Slate

Our married daughter’s in-laws are, sadly, pretty immature people. The week of these kids’ wedding, my wife was forced into playing therapist to convince them of the importance of attending their son’s outdoor wedding (fear of COVID nearly kept them away!). This was hugely stressful for my wife. In the three years since then, we’ve been amazed by their self-pitying comments and guilt-inducing remarks directed at their adult sons and daughters-in-law.

These four-legged companions might have very famous parents, but their personalities — and adorable faces — have made them celebrities in their own right.

Whether it’s Pilaf, Demi Moore‘s teeny-tiny pup who has accompanied her everywhere from fashion week to Broadway shows, or Ariana Grande‘s Toulouse — who has even graced the cover of Vogue — it’s safe to say, these pups are living their best lives.

Below, see some of the cutest dogs in Hollywood that just might be giving their owners a run for their money.

American blogger Sam Jones, whose behavior with a baby wombat in Australia sparked public outrage, apologized for the incident and wrote that she only wanted to get the baby away from the road, not from its mother.

She wrote about this on Instagram.

Sam Jones was vacationing in Australia and one day posted a video showing her catching a baby wombat while it was walking with its mother. The footage shows Jones running towards a car with the baby wombat in her arms, while the baby hisses and tries to escape. The mother animal runs after the blogger, but she continues to hide from her and does not let the baby down.

After that, Sam Jones left the country, and Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that immigration authorities were checking whether she had violated the conditions of her visa.

In an Instagram post, the blogger claims that she has received thousands of death threats and questions such criticism of herself in a country whose government “allows the slaughter of wombats”.

Jones said she was “extremely concerned” when she saw the wombats on the road and stopped to make sure they hadnʼt been hit by a car. The baby, she said, wasnʼt moving, so she thought it was injured and picked it up.

“I ran not to tear the cub from its mother, but out of fear that she would attack me,” the woman wrote.

And she insisted that the incident was not simply fabricated for content.

• There are three species of wombat in Australia, two of which are endangered. Experts say the baby the blogger caught is a common wombat, also known as a naked-nosed wombat, which is not endangered. However, baby wombats form strong bonds with their mothers, and any separation can be distressing and harmful.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.

Thieves broke into the farmhouse of Pakistani cricketers Kamran and Umar Akmal’s father in Lahore, stealing newly installed solar panels worth Rs500,000 in broad daylight.

According to police, the incident took place in the jurisdiction of the Heyr police station, where unidentified suspects broke the main gate’s lock and entered the property.

They removed and stole the solar panels before fleeing the scene.

The victim, father of the former Pakistan wicketkeepers, said the solar system had been installed just a day earlier. “We put it up yesterday, and today the thieves took it away,” he told local media.

Police arrived at the farmhouse shortly after the incident was reported. Authorities said CCTV footage and other evidence were being used to identify the culprits.

SP Cantonment Owais Shafiq confirmed that a case had been registered against unknown suspects on the complaint of the farmhouse’s coach, Kashif Mahmood.

He added that officers had been directed to trace and arrest the thieves as soon as possible.

Five people have been charged after a woman who was shot dead in what may be a case of mistaken identity.

Joanne Penney, 40, died after being shot in the chest at an address in Llys Illtyd, in Talbot Green, South Wales, on Sunday evening.

Emergency services attended the scene to find Ms Penney with serious injuries, and she was pronounced dead.

Marcus Huntley, 20, from St Mellons, Cardiff; Melissa Dashpre Quiley, 39, from Leicester; Joshua Gordon, 27, from Oadby, Leicestershire; and Tony Porter, 68, from Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, have all been charged with the murder of Ms Penney.

Porter has also been charged with participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group.

A fifth person has also been charged in connection with the investigation, South Wales Police said.

Kristina Ginova, 21, from Oadby, Leicestershire, has been charged with assisting an offender.

They will all appear before Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.

On Monday, neighbours took flowers to the cordon and described their shock at the incident.

Some said they had heard a gunshot in the area, which is close to a retail park.

Detectives have also made a seventh arrest, with a 32-year-old man arrested on Friday evening in the Suffolk area.

A 42-year-old man from Talbot Green arrested on Sunday has been released without charge but has been bailed for further inquiries following an allegation of assault, the force said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ceri Hughes said: ‘Our team of detectives and specialist staff are continuing to piece together the circumstances behind Joanne’s tragic death and I would still urge anyone who has information, either about her death or what happened at the property in Llys Illtyd on Sunday evening, to come forward – the smallest piece of information could be of vital importance.

‘I would like to thank the local community for their support of the investigation so far and to everyone who has spoken to us and provided information.’

Jenny Hopkins of the CPS said: ‘The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised South Wales Police to charge Marcus Huntley, Melissa Dashpre Quiley, Joshua Gordon and Tony Porter with the offence of murder.

‘In addition to murder, the defendant Tony Porter has been charged with participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

‘Kristina Ginova has been charged with assisting an offender.

‘The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against these people are now active and that they have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.’

Earlier this week, her family paid tribute to her.

‘We are devastated by the tragic loss of our beloved Joanne. She was a daughter, mother, sister, and niece – loved deeply by all who knew her,’ they said.

‘Her kindness, strength, and love for her family will never be forgotten.

‘During this incredibly difficult time, we ask for privacy as we grieve and begin to process this unimaginable loss.

‘We appreciate the support and condolences from the community and kindly request that our family be given the space to mourn in peace.

‘We would be grateful if anyone with information could share this with the police investigation team. Thank you for respecting our wishes.’

The arrival of a new baby shifts family dynamics for sure.

In this story, two new parents have a financial dilemma: does a mother providing childcare make up for her lack of income?

Let’s run the numbers.

First of all we’re in Europe here, in a country with arguably the most extended social help policies possible.

With public healthcare, we don’t need to worry about medical bills.

Public childcare is affordable (in some states even free); private, like full-time nannies, of course more expensive.

Ah, the benefits of social programs.

State welfare provides for you when you lose your job, at least for a certain period of time.

You’ll always find some job, maybe not immediately one in line with your career, but at least something temporary.

It’s rather unlikely that one partner will have to support the other financially at any point (unless maybe they agree on a stay-at-home parent situation).

Independent living at its finest.

Savings are for emergencies like broken refrigerator, or things like next car upgrade, maybe a more expensive vacation or investments.

Of course, it’s still wise to have contingency plans and strategies aligned.

Life can throw all kinds of curveballs at you.

That’s for sure.

Furthermore separate accounts while also having shared investments/expenses/properties are common.

Most people with kids/in committed relationships I know have separate accounts, sometimes an additional joint account for shared expenses.

“One pot” policy is rather outdated.

That’s what the generation of my parents/grandparents would do.

Usually finances while one partner is on maternity/paternity leave or otherwise unable to work are handled rather intuitively, like “I’ll take care of the bills and you buy the groceries” kind of thing.

Intuition is great but only if both people are on the same page.

Never have I heard of someone splitting expenses respectively to the income percentage.

Which may leave folks in an unsure, maybe even disadvantaged situations.

Note that I’m only speaking for myself and from what I’ve heard from people I’m around (friends, close family).

Not a ton of context about this loan, but this partner has a lot of opinions on shared finances.

And for those wondering, we’re hashing out the details and it seems like we’re gonna go with the percentage thing for all the bills, including the loan payment.

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Let’s look to the comments.

This person says the couple should’ve gone back to basics.

Someone else says conversation is key here.

Another person says why are your finances split to begin with?

Another commenter says definitively NTA.

This user says OP should get child support if she has to pay back this loan.

Family finances are definitely not child’s play.

This guy seems way out of line, though.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.

The psychological thriller Adolescence is the brainchild of Stephen Graham, who stars as the father of a 13-year old boy, Jamie Miller, played by Owen Cooper, who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl.

It has a perfect 100% Rotten Apples score and has been hailed as the best Netflix series since Baby Reindeer.

The psychological thriller Adolescence is the brainchild of Stephen Graham who stars as the father of a 13-year old boy, Jamie Miller, played by Owen Cooper, who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl.

Top Boy actor Ashley Walters takes on the role of DI Luke Bascombe in the critically acclaimed four-part production, uniquely shot in nearly hour-long continuous single takes.

The outstanding rating on review website Rotten Tomatoes has come from fans and critics praising the realistic portrayal of British society.

In the US, the Globe and Mail said: “Netflix’s new miniseries Adolescence will terrify parents – and is the streamer’s best since Baby Reindeer.”

In the UK, Empire has described Adolescence as “nothing short of extraordinary”, going on to say, “Adolescence is a triumph of creative and technical artistry where the ‘gimmick’ at hand elevates it to one of the year’s finest.”

Some have also compared it with Netflix’s 2024 triumph Baby Reindeer, which was written by Scottish comedian Richard Gadd about an alleged stalker.

Graham has revealed the idea for his drama came about as he read headlines about the knife crime epidemic in the UK. He said: “I read an article about a young boy stabbing a young girl,” he said. “And then maybe a couple of months later, on the news there was a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart.”

Viewer have flooded social media with their thoughts on the TV show.

One posted: “By far one of the best British drama series I have ever watched it was such a good representation a British family culture. Absolutely gripping, I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the TV.”

Another fan took to X, formerly Twitter, to say: “Highly recommend #adolescence starting today on @netflix. Compelling storyline, excellent cast, shot in real-time one-take eps – especially stressful plot/themes when my son turns 13 today. Must-see TV.”

Graham, meanwhile, has issued a warning to parents about the dangers of the internet.

He explained that the storyline explores a complexity of topics, and that parents need to be “mindful” of the external influences working on their children.

“It’s just being mindful of the fact that not only we parent our children, and not only the school educates our children,” he said. “But also there’s influences that we have no idea of that are having profound effects on our young culture, profound effects, positive and extremely negative. So it’s having a look at that and seeing that we’re all accountable.”

He added: “The four-part drama, he says, doesn’t have the answer but instead holds a mirror up to society asking how can the growing presence of incel culture be quashed?

“You look at it and you see that we’re kind of all accountable to an extent. There’s failings within the school system, there’s situations where the education system can look at this, look at what’s happened with that kind of rise in these misogynistic tendencies.

“The society as a whole can look at this, parents obviously can look at this, and the government in many ways.”

Derived from the phrase “involuntarily celibate”, incel culture in its simplest form is someone who deems themselves unable to find a romantic partner despite desiring one.

A more radicalised sub-culture of incels has surfaced online in recent years which includes individuals who dislike feminism and believe that women have become too sexually selective.

They believe men are the superior sex and men have the right to objectify and criticise women as a result.

Influencers like Andrew Tate have been connected to the growing corner of the internet in which young boys are being radicalised from the certain viewpoint.

A controversial online presence in recent years, Tate, 38, is facing allegations of trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering, alongside his brother Tristan. Both have strongly denied the charges.

All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix now.

A pregnant teenager in Brazil was brutally murdered after being lured into a woman’s home with the promise of free baby clothes. The attacker cut the unborn baby from the teen’s womb before strangling her, reports the New York Post.
The victim was a 16-year-old girl named Emilly Sena, and she was nine months pregnant when she was targeted by Nataly Pereira, 25, who had recently suffered a miscarriage.
Authorities discovered Sena’s body on Thursday, buried in the backyard of the home Pereira shared with her husband, Christian de Arruda, 28.
The heinous crime came to light when the couple attempted to register the stolen baby as their own at a hospital in Cuiabá, Brazil. Suspicious medical staff tested Pereira and found she had never been pregnant.
Pereira had a miscarriage six months earlier but didn’t tell her family. She pretended to be pregnant and came up with a cruel plan to steal a baby.
Pereira contacted Sena on WhatsApp, offering free baby clothes and even paying for her transport to the house.
“She said she had received a lot of baby clothes and wanted to donate some to Emilly,” the victim’s grieving mother, Ana Paula Meridiane, told local news outlet g1.
Once Sena arrived, the situation turned deadly. Police Chief Caio Alexandre revealed that the teen was brutally attacked, strangled, and later hanged with internet cables. T-shaped cuts on her abdomen indicated she was still alive when her unborn baby was cut from her womb with a bladed weapon. Sena desperately tried to fight back but succumbed to blood loss.

Caught in the act

Pereira and De Arruda were arrested at the hospital while trying to pass the baby off as their own. Despite initial suspicions that they had worked together, Pereira claimed she acted alone.
Her lawyers revealed she had suffered a previous miscarriage and continued pretending to be pregnant.
“This would be the second time she had had a miscarriage, and so she decided to maintain this false pregnancy,” they were quoted as saying to the New York Post.
Meanwhile, De Arruda insisted he had no idea about the murder, believing his wife had actually given birth. He had even shared a photo online, announcing he had just become a father.
Authorities are still investigating, with Brazil’s Homicide and Personal Protection Division questioning De Arruda and two other suspects.
“The investigation is still on site to find out the dynamics of what happened,” Alexandre said.