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Exclusive: The collection, including donations from Paul McCartney’s brother Mike, shows band’s development in early 60sA rare set of letters and photos from the early days of the Beatles, in which they write about feeling like stars for the first time, is to go on display in Hamburg.The collection, from an influential period when the band lived in the German city, includes the only letter in existence with words from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, which was written to the bassist’s brother, Mike McCartney. Continue reading...

The scorching heat means parts of the UK could also be warmer than Sydney, Buenos Aires or TunisYou might expect sunshine in Australia, Tunisia or Argentina, but those staying in the UK are likely to see hotter weather, with some parts of the country expected to reach the high 20s before the bank holiday weekend.Temperatures in London and East Anglia could reach 27C on Friday, the Met Office said, marking the warmest day of the year so far. The scorching heat means parts of the UK could be warmer than Sydney, Buenos Aires or Tunis, where highs of between 24C to 22C are forecast. Temperatures could also exceed those in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, where highs of 26C are predicted. Continue reading...

Students taking part in university’s annual ritual say images of them in swimwear are being published without consent in national newspapersWhen the sun rises at dawn on Friday, hundreds of St Andrews University students will brave the chilly North Sea for the annual May Dip, an undergraduate ritual said to bring good luck in exams. But the students won’t be alone at the beach. In recent years this quirky ritual has become a target for agency and freelance photographers looking to cash in on images of students in bikinis, including some who camp out overnight on the East Sands dunes near the Fife coastal path.“It ruined my night,” said Anna, one of the students whose photo appeared in a spread published by the Scotsman. “Now when I think about that May Dip, I think about that image, and that’s it.” Continue reading...

• Scientists achieved the first teleportation of a photon's state between two separate quantum dots over a 270-meter open-air link. • The experiment used GPS synchronization, ultra-fast detectors, and turbulence stabilization, reaching 82% state fidelity exceeding classical limits by over 10 standard deviations. • Published in Nature Communications, this milestone advances quantum internet for ultra-secure communication and quantum relays.

• Ex-FBI Director James Comey surrendered to authorities and appeared in court on April 29, 2026, facing DOJ charges for allegedly threatening President Trump's life via a seashell social media post. • Prosecutors claim the post symbolized a threat, leading to swift federal action amid heightened political tensions. • The case underscores escalating rhetoric between Trump allies and former officials, potentially influencing 2026 midterm dynamics.

Rise in electricity demand in first quarter of 2026 was moderated by record output from rooftop solarGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore datacentres and warmer conditions helped push electricity demand to record highs in the first three months of the year, according to Australia’s Energy Market Operator, while growth in batteries kept average wholesale prices down.Electricity demand – from households, business and industry – reached record levels of 25GW in Q1 2026, an increase of 1.2% compared with the same quarter last year. Across the grid, this growth was offset by record output from rooftop solar. Continue reading...

Hinckley says ‘bad things keep happening’ at Washington Hilton and it was ‘not a secure place to hold big events’US politics live – latest updatesThe man who shot Ronald Reagan at the Washington Hilton in 1981 has said it was “spooky” for him to learn of Saturday’s shooting at the hotel during a prestigious media gala attended by Donald Trump and senior members of the president’s administration.In an interview with TMZ published on Monday, John Hinckley Jr also observed that “bad things keep happening” at the hotel and maintained it was “just not a secure place to hold big events”. Continue reading...

Queensland and NSW set for lower than usual rainfall in May, June and July, while temperatures in most of the country likely to be higher than normalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLarge parts of south-east Australia look set for drier and hotter conditions over the next three months as a potential El Niño weather phenomenon takes shape in the Pacific Ocean.Much of Queensland and New South Wales are forecast to have lower than usual rainfall in May, June and July, with almost the entire country likely to experience hotter than average maximum temperatures. Continue reading...

Nearly 1 million Californians supported push by Republican Carl DeMaio but it faces historic opposition from DemocratsCalifornia voters will decide in November whether to require photo identification to cast a ballot, making California the latest battleground in a long-running effort by conservatives to push voter ID laws that have been bolstered in recent years by Donald Trump’s repeated and unfounded accusations of widespread voter fraud.Nearly 1 million Californians signed on to support the ballot measure championed by Carl DeMaio, a Republican state representative from San Diego. Continue reading...

Staff are handing over sandwiches from behind a theft-proof counter as the high street fights backGreggs has axed self-service display cabinets in bakery stores that have been most severely hit by shoplifters.The move is the latest aimed at combating a problem plaguing the high street. Last year official figures revealed annual shoplifting offences in England and Wales had passed half a million offences for the first time, and since then many retailers have reported high levels of crime in their shops. Continue reading...

Man, 51, arrested after allegedly assaulting multiple people at Prince of Wales hospitalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA patient has been shot with a Taser after allegedly attacking several people at a Sydney hospital, including a nurse who was left seriously injured.Police restrained a 51-year-old patient after the Saturday night melee at Sydney’s Prince of Wales hospital, which left a nurse in hospital. Continue reading...

Haris Doukas warns that with 700,000 residents and 8 million tourists, people are being pushed out of their neighbourhoodsIn the heart of ancient Athens, on narrow streets and around archaeological sites, visitor groups appear to be everywhere, snaking their way behind tour guides.Previously, officials would have welcomed such scenes. But for Haris Doukas, the socialist mayor who is determined to reclaim the capital’s congested city centre for its citizens, the start of tourist season leaves the city at risk of “over-saturation.” Entire neighbourhoods, he believes, are in danger of losing their authenticity because of uncontrolled tourist development. Continue reading...

Former US ambassador and Labour peer joins a long line of people who have gone out to meet awaiting paparazzi head-onFor a man at the centre of a storm that has rocked the political establishment, Peter Mandelson has spent the week looking remarkably relaxed. Day after day, as MPs have grilled civil servants over who knew what when about the former US ambassador’s security vetting, and police continue to investigate serious allegations over his own conduct, Mandelson has stepped out of his Regent’s Park mansion and pottered across the road to take his dog for a walk.Smart-casually dressed in jeans and a jumper and holding in front of him a plastic ball-thrower, he has set off for the park like a weekending solicitor on his way to an egg and spoon race. There have been occasional small smiles for the photographers at his gate, but no comment. The message appears to be: I am insouciant, normal. Not in prison. Continue reading...

• Cyware was again named to the Cyber66 list of hottest privately held security companies, announced via PRNewswire on April 23, 2026. • The recognition highlights Cyware's leadership in AI-powered threat intelligence operationalization and secure threat sharing. • Company emphasizes agentic AI for accelerating targeted threat responses and collaboration.

Georgia players celebrated championship at White HousePresident shakes hands of men, not women in videoFormer tennis star Navratilova leads criticismA White House photo celebrating a champion women’s sports team has drawn backlash due to the positioning of Donald Trump and a group of men, who overshadowed the female athletes by lining up in front of them.The University of Georgia women’s tennis team was one of several collegiate teams to visit the White House on Wednesday to mark a recent championship win. In a photo shared by press aide Margo Martin, a group of six men, including Donald Trump, took up the front row of a stage setup, with 11 women standing in the background largely obscured. Continue reading...

A malfunction was discovered during routine testing of the firearm, which is standard issue for QPS officersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastQueensland police have been forced to retest all service-issued Glock handguns after a fault was discovered in the weapon that could cause it to fire multiple shots.The 40-calibre Glock is the standard-issue sidearm for Queensland police officers, and has been in service since the 1990s. Continue reading...

• Researchers at the University of Washington created an artificial photosynthesis prototype converting sunlight directly into storable chemical fuels with 13% efficiency, surpassing previous laboratory records of 8-10%. • The system uses engineered nanostructures and novel catalysts to split water and fix carbon dioxide, producing methanol as a liquid fuel suitable for existing energy infrastructure, detailed in Nature Energy on April 21. • The breakthrough could enable large-scale production of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels without competing for agricultural land, addressing both climate and energy security challenges.

Pilot made emergency landing on small plot of grass at Temecula home amid low fuel and shifting windsA balloon landed in a southern California backyard – a balloon with 13 people.The enormous hot-air balloon, with a pilot and passengers in the basket, descended perfectly on Saturday on a small plot of grass at a home in Temecula. Hunter Perrin said he had no idea that he had visitors until a neighbor alerted him. Continue reading...

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth makes announcement and calls military’s flu vaccine mandate ‘broad’ and ‘not rational’Members of the armed services will no longer be required to have an annual flu vaccination shot under a new policy announced Tuesday by Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary.In a video statement posted to social media, Hegseth described the mandate as “overly broad” and “not rational” and the decision to drop the vaccine requirement as “seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities”. Continue reading...

• Drake's 'Family Matters' debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 dated April 17, 2026, with 45 million streams and 150,000 downloads in tracking week. • The diss track targeting Kendrick Lamar amassed 200 million YouTube views, escalating rap beef. • It marks Drake's record 14th No. 1, surpassing The Beatles, per chart data.

Map reveals most severe concentrations of ammonia emissions, which are dangerous to health and environmentAmmonia pollution hotspots have been identified in areas with some of the greatest numbers of intensive pig and poultry farms in Britain, research has revealed.A new map for the first time reveals the most severe concentrations of ammonia emissions are clustered in Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Norfolk. These regions all have a high density of intensive poultry and pig units that drive dangerous levels of ammonia, according to researchers from Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) and Sustain. Continue reading...

Kirk Moore was injured as he tackled a former pupil who opened fire at Pauls Valley high schoolSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAn Oklahoma principal has been praised for preventing a tragedy at his high school by charging and disarming a former student armed with two semi-automatic handguns, an episode captured on dramatic surveillance video.Kirk Moore, principal of Pauls Valley high school, was shot in the leg as he wrestled the attacker, a 20-year-old said by court documents to be obsessed with the 1999 shooting at Colorado’s Columbine high school in which 12 students and one teacher were killed. Continue reading...

DHS accused of false and misleading statements about Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez who was shot in faceFederal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and charged him with “assault” on a federal officer.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was shot by ICE officers on 7 April in Patterson, a rural town in California’s central valley roughly 80 miles south-east of San Francisco. He was hit by more than six bullets, including in the face, according to his attorney. Continue reading...

Refugee Council criticises Labour’s decision, saying military sites are unsuitable and ‘more expensive than hotels’Hundreds of asylum seekers have been removed from government-funded hotels while others have been sent to live in army barracks, the Home Office has announced.Eleven “asylum hotels” in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been closed, as first reported by the Guardian, and more will close “in the coming weeks”. About 350 claimants have been moved to the Crowborough military camp in east Sussex, described by a spokesperson as “basic accommodation”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: closures are part of pledge by Labour to end all use of hotels for asylum seekers by end of this parliamentThe Home Office is to announce the closure of 11 asylum hotels this week as part of its pledge to close all hotels by the end of this parliament.The use of hotels to house asylum seekers has been controversial since it became widespread at the start of the Covid pandemic. Anti-migrant protesters have staged demonstrations outside the hotels, claiming asylum seekers are living a life of luxury in the hotels. Continue reading...

Fraudsters send emails claiming storage is full or nearly full, then trick people into clicking on links that can expose bank and personal detailsFor a while you’ve been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full”. They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take aren’t being uploaded.You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of 99p a month for more storage. But it seems that you can’t keep putting off the inevitable: you have received an email which says your iCloud account has been blockedand your photos and videos will be deleted very soon. To keep them you need to upgrade immediately, it says. Continue reading...

• The Athletic and New York Times launched an internal investigation into NFL reporter Dianna Russini after photos surfaced of her with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at a Sedona, Arizona resort this week. • Photos showed the pair together, prompting questions about journalistic ethics; Russini stated they were part of a group of six friends and that interactions with sources off-site are common. • Executive editor Steven Ginsberg called initial images misleading, but new details from Page Six raised further concerns, leading to review of her coverage.

• A US fighter jet was shot down over Iranian airspace, marking a significant escalation in military confrontations amid ongoing US-Iran hostilities that began on February 28, 2026. • The incident occurred as tensions remain high following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and subsequent Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region. • The downing of the aircraft raises concerns about potential further military escalations and complicates ongoing ceasefire negotiations between US and Iranian delegations.

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was hit by more than six bullets, says lawyer, with ICE facing scrutiny over shootingA California man shot by US immigration agents said officials have falsely accused him of being a gang member and that officers fired on him without justification during a traffic stop.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was pulled over and shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Tuesday in Patterson, a rural agricultural town in California’s central valley. Patrick Kolasinski, Hernandez’s attorney, visited him in the hospital on Thursday morning and summarized his client’s comments. Continue reading...

• A high-profile US celebrity duo fueled marriage rumors today with an Instagram post asking 'Are those wedding bells getting louder???', captioned by The Image Direct. • Fans speculate on A-list identities amid surging engagement in celebrity gossip. • The tease aligns with rising interest in Hollywood weddings during awards season buildup.