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Harry Styles has announced the full programme for this year’s Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre, positioning the pop star as curator of a multi‑genre celebration that runs from 11 June to 21 June. In addition to headlining a solo show on 16 June at the Royal Festival Hall, Styles will perform amid his ongoing Wembley Stadium tour, while the festival showcases a broad spectrum of talent ranging from jazz to electronic dance music. The jazz segment features two sets by acclaimed US saxophonist Kamasi Washington: one dedicated to his album Fearless Movement and another titled “Jazz Legends Reimagined,” where he will reinterpret classic jazz compositions. Ethiopian‑born pioneer Mulatu Astatke returns after a farewell‑tour appearance, and the UK scene is represented by drummer Yussef Dayes and reed virtuoso Shabaka, who will join a collective of collaborators. Indie and rock offerings include LA band Warpaint (performing their sole gig of the year), British singer‑songwriter Nilüfer Yanya, and a mix of emerging and veteran acts such as Bar Italia, Stephen Fretwell and Getdown Services. Former Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks will deliver a hybrid set of music and storytelling, while Devonté Hynes (known as Blood Orange) will present a classical‑inspired performance with musicians Adam Tendler, Cæcilie Trier and Tariq Al‑Sabir. On the pop front, rising stars Erika de Casier and Fousheé will provide some of the season’s most forward‑thinking tracks. The electronic roster spans ambient pioneer Beverly Glenn‑Copeland, an improvised collaboration featuring Jon Hopkins, Maddie Ashman and Leo Abrahams, high‑tempo EDM from Australia’s Ninajirachi, and a DJ set by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. A parallel programme of free, family‑friendly events will showcase “a mix of appearances from Styles’ favourite artists beyond music,” according to the Southbank Centre. Speaking about the festival, Styles said: “Music is my life; every artist involved in this year’s Meltdown festival means so much to me, both as a fan, and a musician. It’s a true honour to host legends who have paved the way for the generations that follow them, as well as new acts that have inspired me to push my creative boundaries.” Tickets become available on 9 April for Southbank members and 10 April for the general public, with the event promising a unique blend of established icons and cutting‑edge talent.

The Artemis II mission has achieved a remarkable feat, with the crew flying further from Earth than any human before them, reaching a distance of 406,778km (252,760 miles) from Earth. This historic moment broke a 56-year-old record set by the Apollo 13 mission.During their six-hour lunar flyby, the crew captured unprecedented views of the moon's far side, providing a human perspective on features previously only known through robotic photographs. The astronauts used high-powered Nikon cameras and their iPhones to document the lunar surface, with plans to return with thousands of pictures, including images of the Apollo 12 and 14 landing sites.The mission also included an emotional moment when the crew honored the legacy of past astronauts. They began the day with a wake-up message from Jim Lovell, the Apollo 13 commander, who recorded the message two months before his death. Lovell welcomed the crew to 'my old neighborhood' and encouraged them to enjoy the view.In a touching gesture, the astronauts named two fresh lunar craters. They proposed the names Integrity for their capsule and Carroll, in honor of Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife who passed away from cancer in 2020. Wiseman, a former fighter pilot, has been raising their two daughters on his own since then. The names will be passed along to the International Astronomical Union for official designation.The mission's free-return lunar trajectory took advantage of gravity from the Earth and moon, reducing the need for fuel. This figure-of-eight path will put the astronauts on course for home once they emerge from behind the moon. As they passed across the far side of the moon, the capsule experienced a 40-minute communications blackout, a routine occurrence during the Apollo missions.Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen challenged future generations to make sure the record broken by Artemis II is not long-lived. The crew's achievements and emotional moments highlight the significance of this mission in the history of space exploration.

Rohan Dennis took to Instagram on Monday night to condemn what he called a "false narrative" spun by the press following the death of his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins, in a car accident near their Adelaide home. In his post, the former world‑time‑trial champion wrote that the media wanted to portray him as "the husband who abused his wife," a characterization he vehemently denies. In May 2025, Dennis received a 17‑month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to an aggravated act likely to cause harm. He was not held criminally responsible for Hoskins' death, but the court imposed a $100 fine, a two‑year good‑behaviour bond, and a five‑year licence suspension. Earlier this year, Dennis sparked further controversy by posting a photo of a black Porsche with the caption "What an absolute weapon," prompting South Australia’s victims’ rights commissioner, Sarah Quick, to label the post "deeply offensive." He later shared a picture of his two children, calling them "two absolute weapons," which intensified media scrutiny. Denning’s Instagram statements accuse journalists of harassing his family, claiming they asked him if he was a murderer and how he felt "knowing he killed his children’s mother." He asserted, "I have ALWAYS been against any sort of abuse against women, especially the one who gave birth to my children." During sentencing, Judge Ian Press emphasized that Dennis was not charged with causing Hoskins' death, noting that she "held on to the car as you accelerated" before falling. The judge’s remarks underscored the legal distinction between the aggravated act and the fatal outcome. Denis’s career highlights include two world titles in the road time trial, a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2012 Olympics, and a bronze in the road time trial at the Tokyo Games. Hoskins herself was a two‑time Olympian, competing in the team pursuit in 2012 and 2016 and contributing to Australia’s 2015 world‑title squad. By calling the coverage "pathetic journalism" and urging media outlets to "back off and leave my family alone," Dennis seeks to shift public focus from the tragedy to what he perceives as sensationalist reporting.

François Ozon's The Stranger is a lustrously beautiful and superbly realised modern take on Albert Camus's classic novella L'Etranger. Set in 1940s French Algeria, the film follows the story of Meursault, a sensitive white European who commits a racist act under the unbearable noonday sun.The film, shot in Morocco, boasts an almost supernaturally detailed sense of period and place. Ozon's adaptation brings a contemporary perspective to the book's themes of empire and race, making changes that include a critique of the original text. This approach perhaps loses some of the source material's brutal, heartless power and arguably some of the title's meaning.Meursault, played by Benjamin Voisin, is portrayed as a character with an unreadable expression of listless unconcern. His story unfolds through flashbacks, showing his dull office job in Algiers, his blank reaction to his mother's death, and his relationship with Marie, played by Rebecca Marder.The film's climax features Meursault's fatal encounter with the vengeful brother of Raymond's girlfriend, Djemila. When asked for a motive, Meursault simply says: “C’était à cause du soleil” – “It was because of the sun”. This response highlights the absurdity of the situation and the racist undertones of the act.Ozon's adaptation softens the argument presented in Camus's original work, and Meursault is ultimately condemned to death. The film emerges as a passionate act of ancestor worship in honour of a renowned French artwork, while also critiquing the original text and its representation of imperialism.

UK manufacturers are facing a significant increase in business rates, with a projected annual hike of £940m due to changes introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. These changes, effective this month, have sparked concerns among industry leaders.The increase is attributed to the government's decision to raise business rates at the budget in November, which included an additional surcharge on buildings with a rateable value of more than £500,000. This move has been criticized by MakeUK, an industry lobby group, as it disproportionately affects manufacturers with large factory floors.According to MakeUK, factories account for a fifth of England and Wales's property by rateable value, despite manufacturers only contributing a 10th of economic output. The lobby group argues that the current system of business rates is outdated and unfair, leaving manufacturers paying disproportionately more than other sectors relative to their size.Verity Davidge, policy director at MakeUK, stated: "The current system of business rates is outdated and is a blunt instrument that leaves manufacturers paying disproportionately more than other sectors relative to their size. This increase couldn’t come at a worse possible time and is set to hammer one of the government’s key strategic sectors which is already facing existential threats from increased energy and employment costs which are completely out of their control."The government has faced backlash from various sectors, including pubs and live music venues, and has made some concessions, such as announcing £80m in discounts in January. However, MakeUK is calling for further support, including a year's notice before raising rates and a more nuanced system that takes into account business turnover, size, and type.A government spokesperson responded to MakeUK's analysis, stating: "We have the right economic plan - we’re reforming business rates to back manufacturing, with a £4.3bn support package to limit bills rises, alongside capping Corporation Tax at 25%, cutting red tape and taking action on energy by reducing electricity bills by up to 25% for over 7,000 businesses."

Pakistan has put forward a two-phase plan to bring an end to the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran, and to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. This initiative has been shared with both Iran and the United States, and is currently being considered by both sides.According to sources, Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has acknowledged Pakistan's diplomatic efforts. The plan, tentatively referred to as the 'Islamabad Accord', involves an immediate ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with 15 to 20 days allocated to finalize a broader settlement.The proposed agreement would include Iranian commitments not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets. However, Tehran has responded by stating that it will not reopen the strait as part of a temporary ceasefire, and has expressed skepticism about the proposal.The US has not yet responded to Pakistan's plan, while Iran has rejected a 15-point plan put forward by the US last month, describing it as 'illogical'. The conflict has resulted in significant human suffering, with over 2,000 people killed in Iran since the war began on February 28.The situation remains volatile, with Trump threatening 'hell' on Tehran if a deal is not reached by the end of Tuesday. The international community is closely watching the developments, as the Strait of Hormuz remains a critical artery for global fuel supplies, with over 20 percent of the world's oil and gas passing through the waterway.

Monday, 6 April 2026 marks the most consequential day for human spaceflight in over half a century, as NASA’s Artemis II mission prepares to eclipse the Apollo 13 distance record.At 13:56 EDT (17:56 GMT) the Orion spacecraft will pass the 400,171 km (248,655 mi) mark set by Apollo 13, and by 19:07 EDT (23:07 GMT) it is slated to reach a maximum of 406,773 km (252,760 mi) from Earth – roughly 6,600 km farther than any human has ever traveled.The Artemis programme is NASA’s multi‑decade effort to return people to the Moon, establish a sustainable presence there, and use the lunar foothold as a springboard to Mars. The initiative currently comprises five missions (Artemis I‑V).Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight launched on 16 November 2022, spent 25 days orbiting Earth and validating Orion’s performance, paving the way for the crewed flight.Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Centre on 1 April 2026 at 18:35 EDT (22:35 GMT) with a four‑astronaut crew for a ten‑day deep‑space test.Crew members:Reid Wiseman (50), commander – veteran ISS commander and test pilot.Victor Glover (49), pilot – first Black astronaut assigned to a lunar mission; previously flew on SpaceX Crew‑1.Christina Koch (47), mission specialist – holds the record for longest single women’s spaceflight (328 days) and has extensive EVA experience.Jeremy Hansen (50), mission specialist – Canada’s first astronaut to travel to the Moon, former fighter pilot.The crew will manually pilot Orion at key phases, verify life‑support, propulsion, power, thermal control, navigation and proximity‑operations systems, and rehearse critical procedures such as course corrections, long‑range communications, re‑entry and splashdown.Scientific work will include lunar observations, human‑health experiments, and extensive photography. On 2 April, Commander Wiseman captured a striking “Hello, World” image of Earth from Orion, showing upside‑down continents, vivid auroras, city lights across Africa, Europe and South America, and a faint zodiacal glow.Nutrition for the ten‑day flight comes from a fixed menu of 189 shelf‑stable items – tortillas, nuts, beef brisket, macaroni‑and‑cheese, cookies, chocolate, and rehydratable drinks – all prepared without a refrigerator, using a water dispenser and a small heater to keep crumbs from floating in microgravity.NASA plans the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego at about 20:07 EDT on 10 April 2026. Recovery helicopters will retrieve the crew for medical checks aboard the USS John P Murtha before they return to Johnson Space Center in Houston.The Moon lies an average 384,400 km (238,855 mi) from Earth – roughly ten Earth‑equator circumferences. Its diameter is about one‑third that of Earth; if Earth were a basketball, the Moon would be a tennis ball. Surface temperatures swing from –173 °C (–180 °F) at night to 127 °C (260 °F) in daylight, and gravity is only one‑sixth of Earth’s, so a 60 kg person would feel the weight of a 10 kg mass.Between 1961 and 1972 NASA’s Apollo programme conducted 33 missions (11 crewed, 22 uncrewed), achieving six successful lunar landings. The last humans to walk on the Moon were Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on 14 December 1972 (Apollo 17).Other nations have also left their mark: the Soviet Luna 9 (1966) delivered the first soft‑landing images, China’s Chang’e 4 (2019) explored the far side, and India’s Chandrayaan‑3 (2023) achieved the first soft landing near the lunar south pole – a region rich in permanently shadowed craters that may hold water ice.Looking ahead, Artemis III (targeted for 2027) will test integrated operations in low Earth orbit with commercial landers, Artemis IV (early 2028) aims for the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 at the south pole, and Artemis V (late 2028) will begin construction of a lunar base.

Israel's newly approved $271 billion budget has sparked concerns over its implications for the occupied West Bank, with a significant portion allocated to settlement expansion and far-right ideological projects. The budget, the largest in Israel's history, was passed early on Monday from a fortified bunker, amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.The ruling coalition has bypassed legal frameworks to direct billions towards these goals, citing national security concerns. A key allocation is $129.5 million to the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions, which authorizes illegal Jewish-only settlements and outposts on Palestinian land.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, has been granted sweeping powers over the occupied territory and has openly opposed the two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has echoed this sentiment, stating there will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.The budget also includes funds for projects such as building bypass roads through Palestinian towns, providing protection for illegal settlement outposts, and incorporating armed settlers into the state's civilian security apparatus. These moves are seen as entrenching the occupation and empowering far-right elements of Netanyahu's government.The allocation comes against a backdrop of surging violence by settlers and Israeli armed forces' raids on Palestinian communities across the West Bank, which have intensified since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023. UN data shows nearly 3,000 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank over the past two years.The budget's passage has highlighted divisions within the Israeli opposition, with Yair Lapid accusing rival parties of being more focused on criticizing his party than uniting against the governing coalition. Analysts warn that the spending bill will have severe long-term consequences, including further destabilizing the region and undermining any future viable Palestinian state.

President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum demanding that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern Time on April 7 (midnight GMT on April 8) or face the destruction of national power plants and major bridges.This demand mirrors a March 21 warning in which Trump threatened to strike Iran’s power plants – “the biggest one first” – if the waterway was not fully reopened within 48 hours.Since then, the deadline has been extended several times, with the White House citing progress in secret negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing conflict, a claim Iran publicly denies.While Trump has repeatedly declared that Iran would “lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country,” he has not identified specific facilities as targets.The president has also threatened to demolish Iran’s bridges; a recent U.S.–Israeli strike damaged the B1 bridge in Karaj, a high‑profile structure slated for inauguration, underscoring the tangible risk to civilian infrastructure.Legal analysts warn that such attacks could constitute “collective punishment,” a practice prohibited under international humanitarian law.Iran’s electricity network comprises hundreds of power stations that together form one of the Middle East’s largest grids, supplying power to approximately 92 million people. Most facilities cluster around major population centres—Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan—where demand is highest.The generation mix is dominated by natural‑gas‑fired plants, supplemented by coal, oil, hydro, and a single nuclear facility. In the north and centre of the country, dense clusters of gas‑fired stations serve Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Mashhad.Along the Gulf coast, a second concentration of plants benefits from proximity to vast gas fields and ports, enabling large thermal stations to operate on abundant natural gas. This coastal belt also hosts the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Iran’s only nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1,000 MW, a site that has been repeatedly targeted by U.S. and Israeli forces, raising concerns about potential radioactive fallout.Hydropower generation is centred on a series of dams along the Karun River, the country’s primary source of hydroelectric power.All electricity is transmitted through a national grid managed by the Iran Grid Management Company, delivering power to cities, industry and households.A map of Iranian power stations with capacities of 100 MW or more shows that a single 100 MW plant can typically supply electricity to 75,000–100,000 homes, depending on consumption patterns.The nation’s largest facility is the Damavand Power Plant in Pakdasht, about 50 km southeast of Tehran, boasting a capacity of 2,868 MW—enough to energise more than two million homes.Key high‑capacity plants include:Damavand (Pakdasht) – Natural‑gas combined‑cycle, 2,868 MW.Shahid Salimi – Neka, Caspian Sea coast, natural gas, 2,215 MW.Shahid Rajaee – Near Qazvin, natural gas, 2,043 MW.Karun‑3 Dam – Khuzestan Province, hydropower, 2,000 MW.Kerman – Natural gas, 1,912 MW.Other strategically important stations are the Ramin Power Plant (1,903 MW, gas), the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (1,000 MW, nuclear), and the Bandar Abbas Power Plant (1,330 MW, oil) near the Strait of Hormuz.Iran’s electricity generation is heavily fossil‑fuel dependent: in 2025, 86 % of power came from natural gas, 7 % from oil‑fired plants, about 5 % from hydropower, 2 % from nuclear, and less than 1 % from solar and wind. This makes Iran one of the world’s most gas‑reliant power systems.Targeting the grid would therefore cripple energy supply for millions, disrupt industrial output, and could trigger a humanitarian crisis, while also escalating geopolitical tensions in an already volatile region.