Trump delivers remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10, 2025 in Washington (Picture: Getty)

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An anonymous phone call to a Greek newspaper warned that a bomb had been planted in the centre of Athens.

The male caller gave a timeframe of 35 to 40 minutes, insisting it was not a joke and the threat is serious.

It was not long after that an explosion rocked the head office of Greece’s main railway company, Hellenic Train, which was involved in the tragic rail disaster in 2023 in which 57 people were killed and dozens more wounded.

The incident happened late on Friday, and there were no reports of injuries.

CCTV footage shows the moment the shockwave ripped through Syngrou Avenue, a main road in the capital lined up with restaurants and bars that is a popular spot for tourists.

A padlocked backpack was seen abandoned outside the HQ of the rail firm in the hours before.

This is where the incendiary device was concealed.

Police had secured the area, and forensics teams were spotted collecting evidence at the site.

In a statement, Hellenic Train said the explosion had occurred ‘very close to its central offices’ and said the blast had caused limited damage and no injuries to any employees or passers-by.

It said authorities had acted immediately upon receiving information about the warning call, and that the company was cooperating fully with them and ensuring the safety of its staff.

The blast comes amid widespread protest over the catastrophe that saw a freight train and a passenger train heading in opposite directions crash as they were accidentally put on the same track.

The victims included mostly university students who had been returning to classes after a public holiday.

Criticism over the government’s handling of the February 28, 2023 collision at Tempe in northern Greece has mounted over the last few weeks in the wake of the second anniversary of the disaster.

The crash exposed severe deficiencies in the railway system, including in safety systems, and has triggered mass protests – led by relatives of the victims – against the country’s conservative government.

Critics accused authorities of failing to take political responsibility for the disaster or holding senior officials accountable.

So far, only rail officials have been charged with any crimes.

Several protests in recent weeks have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police.

Earlier Friday, a heated debate in Parliament on the rail catastrophe led to lawmakers voting to refer a former Cabinet minister to judicial authorities to be investigated over alleged violation of duty over his handling of the immediate aftermath of the accident.

Hellenic Train said it ‘unreservedly condemns every form of violence and tension which are triggering a climate of toxicity that is undermining all progress.’

Greece has a long history of politically-motivated violence dating back to the 1970s.

Domestic extremist groups have carried out small-scale bombings which usually cause damage but rarely lead to injuries.

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A Navy Seal veteran who piloted the helicopter that plummeted into New York City’s Hudson River made a chilling call before the disaster.

Agustín Escobar and Mercè Camprubí Montal had travelled to the US from Spain with their three children, Agustín, 10, Mercè, eight, and Víctor, four, to celebrate Ms Camprubí’s birthday.

All were killed as the aircraft broke apart above the waters off Manhattan.

Seankese ‘Sean’ Johnson, 36, has since been identified as the pilot of the aircraft.

It has been revealed by the owner of doomed helicopter that the pilot had radioed base to say they were returning to the helipad to refuel.

Michael Roth told The Telegraph: ‘He called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he did not arrive.

The 71-year-old owns a company which provides helicopter tours of the city called New York Helicopter.

‘We are all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying.

‘I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody.

‘Then one of my pilots flew over the Hudson and saw the helicopter upside down.’

https://www.instagram.com/p/DITzgc1RewI/?img_index=1

The tragedy took place at around 3.15pm on Thursday, closer to the New Jersey side.

Radar data shows it flew north along the Manhattan skyline and then back south toward the Statue of Liberty.

Johnson was behind the controls of the chopper for just 15 minutes after taking off when it smashed into the river at high speed.

Footage showed its rotor ripping off as the craft nose-dived into the water, debris hurtling through the air.

A witness there, Bruce Wall, said he saw it ‘falling apart’ in midair, with the tail and main rotor coming off. The main rotor was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell.

The disaster is under investigation, but an official cause has still not been confirmed.

Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps, said footage suggested that a ‘catastrophic mechanical failure’ left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter.

It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.

‘They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,’ Green said.

‘There is no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It is heartbreaking.’

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Gold has hit an all-time high surpassing levels seen during the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The trigger? Not a confluence of factors, as it is generally, but one person – Donald Trump – and his full-blown trade war that has ended ‘the world as we know it’.

One product of this 21st century gold rush is a TikTok, that has racked up millions of views, of a man casually unloading a gold bar he purchased inCostco to sell.

‘Last year, I bought this one ounce (28 grams) gold bar for $2,359 (£1,805) from Costco,’ video creator Humphrey Yang explains. ‘Today I am going to sell it…’

He eventually manages to sell it for $2,955 (£2,258), profiting a whooping $596 (£450).

It is an example of the market right now as the precious metal surpassed £2,442 per ounce on Friday morning – its highest ever price.

This spike has also prompted discussions on Reddit’s r/investing forum, where people are debating whether gold’s rally is actually sustainable.

‘Is this the start of a larger trend?’ ‘What other alternative investments are there?’ ‘What is going to happen in the next few months?’ These are some of the questions users are anxiously asking.

Shift towards gold ‘well underway’

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, told Metro the shift toward gold is already well underway.

‘The surge in popularity is already happening. The gold price is up by about 21%. That is just this year, and it is constantly testing new record highs,’ he said.

What is unusual this time is the influence of one person, the US president.

Hunter said: ‘There are so many factors at play, but at a high level, market crises are usually caused by a confluence of issues. This time, rather oddly, it is largely down to one person.

‘The “tariff trauma” we are seeing is escalating daily and it is triggering a backlash against the States.’

That uncertainty has reignited interest in traditional ‘safe havens’ like gold.

‘What investors have been doing is searching for haven alternatives where they hope they can ride out some of this storm,’ Hunter explained.

‘What we have seen in the currency markets is particular strength in Swiss franc and Japanese yen. And arguably, the ultimate haven asset is gold.

‘There has been, as we discussed, a real meaningful amount of investment flowing into gold.’

‘Almost guaranteed’ volatility in next 90 days

As for what is next, Hunter stressed he can ‘almost guarantee’ volatility for the next three months as Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs with the exception of China.

While the rest of the world has the period to negotiate another deal, China – the second largest economy – will have its tariffs increased to 125% from 104%.

This came after the country announced additionaltariffs against the US earlier Wednesday.

Hunter commented on this development: ‘When you have got the world’s two largest economies at loggerheads, it is going to show cracks in the system. And that is exactly what is happening.’

British shoppers flock to buy gold

It is not just investors pivoting toward ‘safe haven’ gold, British shoppers are as well.

Dan Rennie, director at jeweller Rennie & Co in London, told Metro that the demand for gold jewellery has spiked despite the price surge.

‘Ironically, with the price of gold going up, we are actually selling more of it, especially when it comes to wedding rings.’

‘Over the last decade or two, platinum dominated. But in the last year, we are definitely seeing a shift back to 18 karat yellow gold.

‘Whether it is a fashion trend or the perception of exclusivity, people are drawn to it.’

For jewellers like Rennie & Co, the cost of gold is becoming much harder to ignore.

Over the past year, Rennie said he has had to raise prices three or four times, not because of labour or other costs, but purely due to gold itself.

‘We last adjusted maybe a month or two ago, and even now we are starting to fall behind again. So I am sure at some point we will need to reassess.’

Gold has a long track record of surging during times of crisis, with people rushing to buy as trust in institutions wobbled.

Prices soared in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the 2008 financial crash, and hit previous record highs again during the pandemic.

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A report that Britain is considering deploying soldiers to Ukraine for five years has been described as ‘pure speculation’.

One of a number of options on the table being discussed by Western allies was said to be a European-led force dispatched to the war-torn nation to deter Russia from breaching any agreement of a ceasefire.

But a ministry of defence spokesperson criticised the report, telling Metro: ‘This is pure speculation.

‘As defence secretary John Healey said on Thursday when convening the latest meeting of the 30 countries supporting the Coalition of the Willing, we are stepping up as one to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to protect its sovereignty.

‘We must put more pressure on Putin to end his war, and we must step up our support for Ukraine, which is why we have announced a further £450 million of military support today to deliver hundreds of thousands of drones and other urgently needed equipment.’

The claims, originally reported by The Telegraph, citing unnamed sources, said the main aim of the deployment would be to immediately start helping to train and rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces.

The force would later withdraw in stages with final troops to leave around the five year mark. 

Away from deploying British and French soldiers on the ground in Ukraine European allies are focusing on military aid to help support the depleted army.

They pledged a record £18.2 billion of help as Healey warned that 2025 was ‘the critical year’ for the war.

The commitments follow a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) chaired by the UK defence minister and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Healey said: ‘This UDCG could not meet at a more important time, because 2025 is the critical year for this war in Ukraine, and now is the critical moment in that war.’

Opening the meeting, he had urged allies to ‘step up our support for Ukraine’, adding: ‘Our job as defence ministers is to get urgent military aid into the hands of Ukrainian warfighters.’

The support announced on Friday includes a £450 million package from the UK and Norway to fund radar systems, anti-tank mines, vehicle repairs and hundreds of thousands of drones for Ukraine.

Drones have come to play an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war, with Healey saying on Friday that 70-80% of battlefield casualties were now inflicted by the technology – significantly outnumbering those caused by artillery.

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A private jet travelling from New York to Mexico has crashed in what is the second aviation incident in 24 hours after a helicopter plummeted in the Hudson River, killing six people on board.

Footage shared on social media shows the Gulfstream V executive jet skidding off the runway while landing at Cabo San Lucas International Airport.

The crash is understood to have happened on Thursday afternoon, two hours after the aircraft took off from Teterboro Airport, in New Jersey.

Several families travelling from Brooklyn were on board when the crash happened, but it is understood they all survived.

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If the Red City feels suffocating, this place provides the antidote.

If the Red City feels suffocating, this place provides the antidote.

British lawyers acting on behalf of Hamas are challenging the Palestinian military group’s proscription as a terrorist organisation in the UK.

It is a move considered unthinkable just months ago. As Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza rages indiscriminately after shattered its ceasefire, Hamas is formally asking the Home Office to remove it from the list.

A 106-page legal applicationsubmitted by Riverway Law to home secretary Yvette Cooper is appealing against the designation.

It argues that it is not a terrorist group but ‘a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project’.

It also claims the ban breaches Hamas supporters’ human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) by ‘unlawfully restricting’ their freedom of speech and rights to protest. 

Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of international relations for Hamas, and the applicant for the claim, said in a statement to Drop Site News: ‘The UK government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century.

‘Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain, despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people.

‘It is perhaps out of colonial guilt that Britain fears that one day, those it oppresses will strike back against the sponsors of the Zionist entity. Britain should have no such fear.’

When was Hamas proscribed as a terror group in Britain?

The military wing of the group, which is behind the October 7, massacre on southern Israel, in which more than 1,200 people, has been on the list since 2001.

At the time, the UK aligned itself with the US-led ‘war on terror’.

When it added Hamas as a whole to the list in 2021, the Home Office said: ‘The government now assess[es] that the approach of distinguishing between the various parts of Hamas is artificial.

‘Hamas is a complex but single terrorist organisation.’

Legally, this means it is a criminal offence to belong to or invite support to the groups.

The legal team argues proscription is contrary to Britain’s obligations under international law to prevent genocide and the crimes against humanity it accuses Israel of.

It says the group is the ‘only effective military force resisting’ such acts.

What is a proscribed organisation?

Under the Terrorism Act 2000, the home secretary may proscribe a group if they believe it is concerned in terrorism, and it is proportionate to do.

For the purposes of the act, this means that the organisation commits or participates in acts of terrorism; prepares for terrorism; promotes or encourages terrorism (including the unlawful glorification of terrorism); and is otherwise concerned in terrorism.

Penalties for proscription offences under sections 11 and 12 are a maximum of 14 years in prison and/or a fine.

The maximum penalty for a section 13 offence is six months in jail and/or a fine not exceeding £5,000.

Who is on Britain’s proscribed terror group list?

Currently, there are 81 group the UK government considers as ‘terrorist’ and which are proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Some of the most notorious organisations on the list include the Nigeria-based Boko Haram, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group.

There are also 14 organisations in Northern Ireland that were proscribed under previous legislation.

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A former ballerina who was imprisoned in Russia for donating £39 to a charity collecting money for Ukraine has finally been freed.

Ksenia Karelina, a US-Russian dual national, was supposed to spend the next 12 years of her life behind bars after being convicted of treason last year and branded an ‘American spy’.

The 34-year-old was today released in a prisoner exchange with the US government, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

Rubio confirmed in a statement on X earlier: ‘American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States.

‘She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and president Trump secured her release.

‘He will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.’

Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said: ‘She was exchanged. She contacted her relatives two hours ago.’

He confirmed that she was flying to the US from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the exchange took place.

Who is Ksenia Karelina?

Karelina was born in Russia and emigrated to the US back in 2012 with her childhood friend Kristina via a work-study programme, receiving American citizenship in 2021.

At first, she pursued dance as a ballerina, but later moved from Baltimore to Los Angeles, where she took on a job as a receptionist at the luxury Ciel Spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.

In 2022, she graduated from esthetician school and continued working in the spa until she was jailed in Russia.

Family members described her as someone who ‘loves to travel to US national parks, hikes, does yoga every Sunday and takes boxing classes’.

A statement on the ‘Free Ksenia’ website said: ‘She is a kind and generous woman who is very close to her family. Since her arrest, her boyfriend Chris has been the lead advocate for Ksenia, coordinating everything we do to support Ksenia and bring her home.’

Why did the Kremlin target the former ballerina?

She had travelled from Los Angeles to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, parents and younger sister in their home in southwestern Russia when she was detained in February.

Three days before she was scheduled to return home, she was handcuffed in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, and convicted of state treason later in 2024.

This was also the same location where Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had been arrested the previous year.

Russia’s FSB searched her mobile and found that she had made a donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Authorities accused her of ‘proactively collecting money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organisations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces’.

The US authorities have called the case against her ‘absolutely ludicrous’.

Who else was part of the prisoner exchange?

The prisoner exchange was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the exchange at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

‘Today, president Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,’ Ratcliffe said.

‘I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the government of UAE for enabling the exchange.’

It is understood that the US in exchange freed dual German-Russian citizen, Arthur Petrov.

He was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the US for allegedly exporting more than $225,000 worth of electronic components to manufacturers supplying weaponry and equipment to the Russian military.

Petrov worked for Russia-based supplier LLC Electrocom VPK, according to court documents cited by the US Department of Justice.

It was alleged that alongside two accomplices who also worked for Electrocom Petrov fraudulently procured microelectronics from US distributors using a network of shell companies, based in Cyprus and other third countries, to disguise that the ultimate destination for the equipment was Russia.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian or US authorities.

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