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Porthcawl’s Coney Beach Pleasure Park accident sees 13 children injured on ride
Oscar Edwards & Maria Cassidy
BBC News
Rebecca EcclestonThirteen children and one adult received minor injuries after an accident on a pleasure park ride.
It happened on Coney Beach’s Wacky Worm, in Porthcawl, Bridgend county, which is described as a “small introductory roller coaster” on its website.
One mother said a metal railing fell on to her son’s pram while she heard children “screaming” and “crying out” after a cart on the ride left the track on Wednesday evening.
In a statement, Coney Beach Pleasure Park said it was instructed by police to clear the site after the incident on a “third-party ride” not owned by the park.
The pleasure park dates back to 1918, but is set to close in October, with homes, shops and restaurants built on the waterfront in a redevelopment.
Footage on social media appears to show adults helping a number of children off the ride.
South Wales Police advised the public to avoid the area and said officers were called to the amusement park at about 17:50 BST following an accident on one of the rides.
Seven patients were taken to hospital by ambulance for further treatment.
The amusement park will remain closed tomorrow while officers and health and safety personnel carry out their investigation.
Rebecca Eccleston, 22, from Llantwit Major was at the amusement park with her son and a big group of friends when the incident happened.
“It was all fine and the kids were enjoying themselves then all of a sudden there was a massive bang,” she said.
“I turned and the metal railing had fallen on to my right shoulder and my pram.”
Ms Eccleston’s one-year-old son Theo, who was in the pram, luckily came out of the incident with only a few bruises.
“If it wasn’t for my mate it would’ve been a totally different story because the metal railing was on top of my pram.
“She stopped the impact with her shoulder,” she said.
Ms Ecceleston said she saw children “screaming” and “crying out”.
She said: “One car at the back of the ride had derailed itself completely.
“No-one could get out and obviously my mate’s partner ran straight away to go and get the kids.”
Rebecca EcclestonMs Ecceleston said one child had to be rushed to hospital because he “lost his teeth on the bars” of the Wacky Worm ride.
A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said paramedics, ambulances and a hazardous area response team were sent to the scene.
The park apologised for the disruption and said it will provide refunds to affected customers as soon as possible.
House Armed Services Democrat: Trump has ‘lowballed expectations’ around Putin meeting
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday said expectations are low for President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
“I think President Trump has really sort of low-balled expectations in recent days. His conversations with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and with Europe sort of show that,” Smith said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
“I don’t think it’s particularly bad that they have the conversation. What’s bad to date is that President Trump has not shown, I think, the unity behind Ukraine to really put pressure on Putin,” he added.
Democrats have shared growing concerns about Trump’s ability to hold Putin accountable for invading Ukraine in 2022.
The president backed out of secondary sanctions on the Kremlin expected to be issued last Friday and said Ukraine will likely need to engage in a “land swap” to end the war.
Zelensky firmly stated on Tuesday that he would not turn over the Donbas region, currently occupied by Russia, in exchange for peace. The Ukrainian leader also urged Trump and Putin to add security guarantees to any proposed agreement to ensure the war in Eastern Europe would be settled after over a decade of conflict.
Smith shared similar sentiments and urged Trump to notify Putin that he’s got to stay within set boundaries.
“Success looks like Putin walking away from this going, whatever the Trump administration was in January, February and March and beyond, that seemed to be giving me a green light in Ukraine, that’s gone. I have to recalculate,” Smith said.
“Success looks like standing up strong against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. And that’s what needs to happen at this summit,” he added.
Putin and Trump will meet in Anchorage on Friday, in the absence of Zelensky. Officials are hopeful that talks will lead to a trilateral discussion that will swiftly accelerate towards a permanent ceasefire.
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Pulisic, Weah slam ‘cop-out’ criticism by ex-U.S. players
United States stars Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah have called out “evil” and “cop-out” criticism from former national team players in a recently released episode of the Paramount+ “Pulisic” documentary.
“I’d say the most annoying thing, and for me, the biggest cop-out of all time, is when, especially, you know, all pundits want to say: ‘They didn’t want it. They didn’t have the heart, you know, back in our day, we would fight and we would die on that field,'” Pulisic said in the eighth episode of the docuseries, which was filmed earlier this summer.
In the episode, which chronicles a poor run of form from the U.S. in 2025, as well as Pulisic doing “the best thing for myself” by taking a break from the summer’s Gold Cup, Weah also chimed in about the growing criticism from pundits and former USMNT players.
“Those guys are chasing checks, and for me, I just feel like they’re really evil, honestly, because they’ve been players, and they know what it’s like when you’re getting bashed,” Weah said. “Those are the same guys that will turn around and shake your hand and try to be friendly with you.”
The comments from both players, as well as from Mark Pulisic (Christian’s father), who said that former U.S. pros “should look in the mirror” before they “start talking s—,” have added more fuel to the public spat between the current and previous generation of USMNT stars.
Ahead of the Gold Cup, U.S. icon Landon Donovan took a verbal jab at Pulisic and other USMNT key figures who would be absent from the tournament, without specifically naming any players, stating: “I can’t help but think about some of our guys on vacation, not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It’s pissing me off.”
Without Pulisic, among others at the Gold Cup, a USMNT roster filled with many second-choice players finished second after a 2-1 loss to rival Mexico in the July 6 final.
The U.S. went into the tournament on a four-game losing streak that included a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Concacaf Nations League.
In response to Donovan — and days before the Gold Cup — Mark Pulisic took to social media and asked ChatGPT to explain Donovan’s break from the sport in 2012-13.
“Landon Donovan took his sabbatical because he was feeling both physically and mentally exhausted after years of intense competition and the pressure that comes with being a top athlete,” read the AI text in a June social media post, which Christian liked online.
Former U.S. great Alexi Lalas was also critical of Pulisic’s absence from the Gold Cup.
Speaking on the “Call It What You Want” podcast on the Golazo Network after his decision, Pulisic said earlier this summer: “You can talk about my performances, whatever you want, but to question my commitment, especially towards the national team, in my opinion that’s way out of line.”
Pulisic is preparing for the upcoming Serie A season with AC Milan, who kick off their 2025-26 run with a Coppa Italia game against Bari on Sunday. Weah recently moved to Marseille on loan from Juventus and will begin his Ligue 1 campaign against Rennes on Friday.
As for the USMNT, its next friendlies are scheduled for Sept. 6 against South Korea, and then against Japan three days later.
‘No surrender’ from Ukraine and ‘Policing minister provokes ridicule’
Friday’s summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin features on many front pages. The Guardian, the i Paper and the Financial Times all focus on the US president threatening Russia with “severe consequences” if the Russian president rejects a ceasefire with Ukraine. The Times says it has learned that Russia and the US have considered a model for ending the conflict which mirrors Israel’s occupation of the West Bank – with Moscow taking control of occupied Ukraine via a governing body. The White House tells the paper that no such discussion has taken place.
ReutersThe Daily Telegraph claims that Trump will arrive at the summit armed with a series of money-making proposals for Putin, as incentives to end the war. These are said to include offering Russia access to rare earth minerals in the Ukrainian territories it occupies – and opening up Alaska’s natural resources to Moscow. US officials are quoted as saying they do not comment on conversations that may or may not be happening.
The Daily Mail reports that BBC bosses have apologised in what the paper calls an “embarrassing climbdown” after the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, was called xenophobic by a Thought for The Day contributor on the Radio 4 Today programme. It says Dr Krish Kandiah “prompted fury” with his comments, leaving Jenrick to describe the incident as “extremely disappointing”.
Comments by the policing minister Dame Diana Johnson advising shops not to keep expensive items near entrances to deter thieves are highlighted by the Daily Express, which says they’ve been branded a “disgrace” and “staggering” by the Conservatives. The paper notes that the boss of Iceland, Richard Walker, had warned that levels of shoplifting were getting worse, and says Dame Diana responded by agreeing that he had a point, and emphasised the government’s investment in neighbourhood policing.
Ministers are considering scrapping a commitment to spend 80% of foreign aid on projects that support gender equality, according to the Guardian. It says critics have warned the move could worsen the impact of Donald Trump’s rollback of funding for diversity. The Foreign Office says it will continue to champion the rights of women and girls globally.
Luna says lawmakers have evidence of 'interdimensional beings'
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said during a Wednesday podcast episode with Joe Rogan that lawmakers have seen evidence of “interdimensional beings.”
“I think that they can actually operate through the time spaces that we currently have,” Luna said during the podcast.
“And that’s not something that I came up with on my own. That’s based on stuff that we’ve seen. That’s based on information that we’ve been told,” she added.
In February, Luna and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe requesting a briefing on all unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP-related records in their possession, with the ultimate goal of “deliver[ing] transparency to the American people.”
She says through investigations, she’s discovered otherworldly information.
“Based on testimony that would be based on witnesses that have come forward. But what I can tell you is just we’re told that they were that, they’ve seen things,” Luna told Rogan.
“And what I can tell you without getting into classified conversations is that there have been incidences that I believe were very credible people have reported that there have been movement outside of time and space,” she continued.
Luna said she’s never seen a portal or a spaceship but was searching for documentation that could lead to more evidence of life beyond humans.
Humanitarian groups call on Israel to end ‘weaponisation of aid’ in Gaza
EPAMore than 100 organisations have signed a joint letter calling on Israel to stop the “weaponisation of aid” into Gaza, as “starvation deepens”.
Humanitarian groups, including Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), say they are increasingly being told they are “not authorised” to deliver aid, unless they comply with the stricter Israeli regulations.
Groups risk being banned if they “delegitimise” the state of Israel or do not provide detailed information about Palestinian staff, the letter says.
Israel denies there are restrictions on aid and says the rules, introduced in March, ensure relief work is carried out in line with Israel’s “national interests”.
According to the joint letter, most major international non-governmental organisations (NGO) have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since 2 March.
They say Israeli authorities “have rejected requests from dozens of non-governmental organisations to bring in lifesaving goods”, citing the new rules. More than 60 requests were denied in July alone.
Aid groups’ inability to deliver aid has “left hospitals without basic supplies, children, people with disabilities, and older people dying from hunger and preventable illnesses”, the statement said.
Sean Carroll, CEO of American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), said: “Anera has over $7 million worth of lifesaving supplies ready to enter Gaza – including 744 tons of rice, enough for six million meals, blocked in Ashdod just kilometers away”.
The new guidelines introduced in March update the framework for how aid groups must register to maintain their status within Israel, along with provisions that outline how their applications can be denied or registration revoked.
Registration can be rejected if Israeli authorities deem that a group denies the democratic character of Israel or “promotes delegitimisation campaigns” against the country.
“Unfortunately, many aid organisations serve as a cover for hostile and sometimes violent activity,” Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
“Organisations that have no connection to hostile or violent activity and no ties to the boycott movement will be granted permission to operate,” added Chikli.
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead, said Israel had rejected more than $2.5m (£1.8m) of goods from entering Gaza.
She added: “This registration process signals to INGOs that their ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out.”
The warning comes as Israel steps up its bombardment of Gaza City, in preparation for a plan to take control of the city.
Israel says it will provide humanitarian aid to civilian populations “outside the combat zones”, but has not specified whether that aid would be delivered by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Israel says the system is necessary to stop Hamas stealing aid, an accusation Hamas denies.
The UN this month reported that 859 Palestinians had been killed near GHF sites since May, a figure the GHF denies.
In the joint statement, Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, said that the “militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised starvation”.
The secretary-general of MSF, Chris Lockyear, told the BBC that GHF was a “death trap”, and the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “hanging on by a thread”.
Hamas’s 2023 attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel, with 251 seized and taken into Gaza as hostages.
Israel’s offensive has since killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It says that 235 people including 106 children have also died due to starvation and malnutrition.
Starbucks CEO sets goals of 4 minute coffee, becoming 'world's greatest customer service company again'
NILES, Ill. (WGN) — The CEO of Starbucks spent the day in suburban Chicago on Wednesday, speaking exclusively with Nexstar’s WGN about the company’s emphasis on providing a better customer experience at one of the world’s most recognized brands.
With plans to turn around sluggish sales and an emphasis on service at the forefront, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol knows that the customer is the boss. But at the global coffee chain’s store in Niles, Illinois, on Wednesday, the boss was the customer, as he continues to roll out his new version for the company.
Niccol’s drink of choice: a tall Americano with an extra shot.
“I’ve said to our team, ‘Part of our turnaround is becoming the world’s greatest customer service company again,'” Niccol said.
The ubiquitous company is launching a new operating model called Green Apron Service, touting improved efficiency. Baristas have a goal: no custom order should take longer than four minutes to make.
“It’s centered on putting enough partners on the roster in the stores and then deployed correctly so they can provide that customer connection, that experience, that frankly Starbucks really was founded on,” Niccol said.
The company’s emphasis had shifted too much toward mobile orders (which now make up 30 percent of Starbucks’ business) and away from the customer standing in the café, according to Niccol.
“What we had to figure out is, ‘How do we bring order to the fact that we have three key order points?'” Niccol said.
Mike Grams, Starbucks’ chief operating officer, said the company’s focus is on making it easier to operate the coffeehouse. The new Smart Queue technology will use an algorithm to guide the process so customers in the café aren’t watching mobile orders being filled before they’re helped.
“Many of us have had the experience where you go into a busy Starbucks and there’s a lot of mobile orderings stacked up on the counter and you just want a cup of coffee to sit in your third place,” Gram said.
Top executives hope the idea will increase sluggish sales, as the coffee giant recently reported its sixth straight quarter of same-store sales declines.
Niccol has remained open about the turnaround situation Starbucks is in, and equally honest about when customers can see and experience changes.
“We’re rolling this out now everywhere,” he said. “It’ll probably take the next two weeks for it to unfold, but by the time you get to September, all of our stores should be up and running with the Green Apron Service model and the Smart Queue technology.”
There are about 11,000 company-owned Starbucks stores across the country. So far, about 1,500 Starbucks stores have tested the Green Apron Service.
While change is paramount, Niccol remains committed to emphasizing Starbucks’ origins: its signature service with a smile and a Sharpie.
“Part of the connection of Starbucks is these little touches. The Sharpie is probably the most visible thing people see, where it just kind of slows everybody down, even if it’s only a second, or a beat,” Niccol said. “It just sort of slows you down when you look at your cup and you’re like, ‘It’s a smiley face,’ or it might say ‘Go Bears.’ So it just gives you a moment, where you can take a second and have a connection with our barista.”
Starbucks’ ultimate goal, Niccol adds, is to return a community coffeehouse vibe to the world’s largest coffee shop chain.
Who is Jimmy Lai, the HK media tycoon on trial for national security crimes?
Kelly Ng
BBC News, Singapore
Hailed by some as a hero and scorned by others as a traitor, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is in the final stage of his national security trial.
Closing arguments were scheduled to start on Thursday for Lai, who is accused of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
But the hearing has now been postponed by a “black” rainstorm warning – Hong Kong’s highest level of warning – as a typhoon swept the city.
The trial has drawn international attention, with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer calling for Lai’s release. The 77-year-old has British as well as Chinese citizenship – though China does not recognise dual nationality, and therefore considers Lai to be exclusively Chinese.
Lai has been detained since December 2020 and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if he is convicted.
Critics say Lai’s case shows how Hong Kong’s legal system has been weaponised to silence political opposition.
Lai has been a persistent thorn in China’s side. Unlike other tycoons who rose to the top in Hong Kong, Mr Lai became one of the fiercest critics of the Chinese state and a leading figure advocating democracy in the former British territory.
“I’m a born rebel,” he told the BBC in an interview in 2020, hours before he was charged. “I have a very rebellious character.”
Getty ImagesHe is the most prominent person charged under the controversial national security law which China introduced in 2020, in response to massive protests which erupted in Hong Kong the year before.
The legislation criminalises a wider range of dissenting acts which Beijing considers subversion and secession, among other things.
Beijing says the national security law is necessary to maintain stability in Hong Kong but critics say it has effectively outlawed dissent.
Over the years, Lai’s son Sebastien has called for his release. In February, the younger Lai urged Starmer and US President Donald Trump to take urgent action, adding that his father’s “body is breaking down”.
Ahead of Lai’s trial on Thursday, Sebastien told the BBC that even if his father got just five years in prison, it was “practically the same as a death penalty.”
“Given his age, given his health, yeah. He will die in prison,” he said.
Sebastien added that Lai’s case was “crucial for China-UK relations”. If Lai died, it would show that “as a nation [the UK] we didn’t stand up for one of our bravest when it mattered”, he said.
Rags to riches
Lai was born in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, to a wealthy family that lost everything when the communists took power in 1949.
He was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat.
While working odd jobs and knitting in a small clothing shop he taught himself English. He went from a menial role to eventually founding a multi-million dollar empire including the international clothing brand Giordano.
The chain was a huge success. But when China sent in tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lai began a new journey as a vocal democracy activist as well as an entrepreneur.
He started writing columns criticising the massacre that followed the demonstrations in Beijing and established a publishing house that went on to become one of Hong Kong’s most influential.
ReutersAs China responded by threatening to shut his stores on the mainland, leading him to sell the company, Lai launched a string of popular pro-democracy titles that included Next, a digital magazine, and the widely read Apple Daily newspaper.
In a local media landscape increasingly fearful of Beijing, Lai had been a persistent critic of Chinese authorities both through his publications and writing.
This has seen him become a hero for many in Hong Kong, who view him as a man of courage who took great risks to defend the freedoms of the city.
But on the mainland he is viewed as a “traitor” who threatens Chinese national security.
In recent years, masked attackers firebombed Lai’s house and company headquarters. He was also the target of an assassination plot.
But none of the threats stopped him from airing his views robustly. He was a prominent part of the city’s pro-democracy demonstrations and was arrested twice in 2021 on illegal assembly charges.
Getty ImagesWhen China passed Hong Kong’s new national security law in June 2020, Lai told the BBC it sounded the “death knell” for the territory.
The influential entrepreneur also warned that Hong Kong would become as corrupt as China. Without the rule of law, he said, its coveted status as a global financial hub would be “totally destroyed”.
The media mogul is known for his frankness and acts of flamboyance.
In 2021, he urged Donald Trump to help the territory, saying he was “the only one who can save us” from China. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published a front-page letter that finished: “Mr President, please help us.”
For Lai, such acts were necessary to defend the city which had taken him in and fuelled his success.
He once told news agency AFP: “I came here with nothing, the freedom of this place has given me everything… Maybe it’s time I paid back for that freedom by fighting for it.”
Lai has been slapped with various charges – including unauthorised assembly and fraud – since 2020.
He has been in custody since December of that year.
The prosecution of Lai has captured international attention, with rights groups and foreign governments urging his release.
Over the years, Sebastien Lai has travelled the world to denounce his father’s arrest and condemn Hong Kong for punishing “characteristics that should be celebrated”.
“My father is in jail for the truth on his lips, courage in his heart, and freedom in his soul,” he had said.