North Yorkshire Police is appealing for information about a burglary that occurred at St Leonard’s Hospice Charity Shop on York Road, Acomb

It happened between 4.30pm on Saturday, April 18, and 8.15am on Monday, April 20 and a dark grey safe, containing cash donations, was stolen.

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“Anyone who saw suspicious activity in the area during this time, or who has information that may assist the investigation, is asked to contact the police,” said a spokesperson for the force.

If you have any information that could help the investigation, please call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for PC 5-6-4, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their website.

Please quote reference number 12260070581 when passing on information.

Terrifying footage shows the moment a tiger leaps into a crowd of families and young children at a Russian circus after a sudden malfunction provides an opportunity to escape

Police in Russia have launched an investigation after a circus tiger dramatically broke free during a performance and leapt into the crowd.

Terrifying footage from the incident in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday shows the animal — kept captive as a circus act — running amok after a sudden malfunction gave it an opportunity to escape.

The clip, which has circulated widely online, begins by showing three tigers stood on stools as the ringleader and assistant pace around the stage, with a circular net separating them from the crowd.

Bu after what appears to be a drastic mechanical fault, the net is suddenly lowered – and the tiger takes only a couple of seconds to take advantage.

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The animal hops onto the metal circle before jumping into the spectator area below, drawing shocked gasps from the crowd.

Audience members are then seen standing up to get a view of the escaped animal, with a few of them immediately heading for the aisles.

Further footage, taken a minute or two later, shows seats largely deserted as the tiger wanders up and down the rows – though a few remaining members of the audience seem unbothered, filming on their phones or occasionally glancing back as the beast passes by.

Eyewitnesses described a scene of panic and confusion in the moment the tiger leapt free, with one telling local media: “The tigers got scared… and one jumped out into the audience.

“Children were screaming, adults running in panic.”

Another claimed the big cat “ran out onto the street” after the tent was evacuated by ushers. “The animal was running through the rows of seats where there were no people at all”, they said.

No-one was injured in the incident, with the tiger recaptured after being found a short distance from the tent. Circus director Nikolai Dovgaluk said: “The trainer put a collar on the tiger, led it to the enclosure, and brought it in without incident.

“It’s not that there was 100% no threat to the audience, but these are tame tigers, meaning they’re trained like tame animals. The most important thing is that there was no panic, and therefore, there was no incident because of that.”

He blamed the net falling on “employee error” and a “coincidence”, adding: “It’s impossible to even say anyone was directly at fault”.

Russia’s federal Investigative Committee announced a probe into potential safety violations on Monday.

Despite now being banned across much of the Western world as a result of stricter welfare laws, captive animals – including bears, elephants, and Siberian tigers – regularly feature in Russian circuses, appearing in the acts of popular troupes such as the Bolshoi and the Moscow State Circus.

The village had lovely pubs, a great garden centre, and a community library in a telephone box – but it was missing one key element

While living in the city of Cambridge might be fun, it can get overwhelming at times on particularly busy weekends when crowds of people are visiting for the day. If you want to enjoy the benefits of the city but have a peaceful place to escape to afterwards, you might be thinking of living in a village close to Cambridge.

Horningsea is just a 17-minute drive away from the city centre and could be the ideal place for a family to put down roots. I decided to visit the village to see if it would be worth moving there.

As I entered the village along the main road, I immediately spotted a major selling point for Horningsea, its garden centre. The village is home to a Scotsdales Garden Centre, which is a great place for those who need to do a bit of shopping to brighten up their garden.

The centre also has a few other departments, including a clothes section where you can find Edinburgh Woollen Mill items. The Sunflower Café is also a popular place for those from the village and anyone just popping into the garden centre to meet for coffee and a slice of cake.

After passing by the garden centre and heading further into Horningsea, I couldn’t help but notice all of the beautiful houses along the High Street. Some of the thatched cottages had been painted in pastel colours and looked like they could have come straight out of a storybook. Lots of the houses had wonderful gardens that would be lovely to relax in on a nice summer’s day.

I noticed a red telephone box found on the High Street as well that looked like it hadn’t been painted in a few decades. But as I took a closer look, I realised it was a little library. A few shelves had been built in the old telephone box and packed with well-loved books.

Residents are free to put in a book and swap it out for one they would like to read from the little library. If I had had a book on me at the time, I definitely would have given it a go.

The village also has two pubs that looked cosy with lots of people enjoying a drink and a meal. The Plough and Fleece can be found across from the garden centre and is community-owned while the Crown and Punchbowl is just in front of the church and has a few rooms to stay in as well.

Horningsea had a lovely community feel to it with lots of children playing freely in the playground and a cute village hall surrounded by a green that would be perfect for events. The old fashioned bus stop has a board in it where people can stick community notices.

Unfortunately, I found one glaring problem with the village. There is no normal grocery store in Horningsea making it very difficult to just pop out for some milk or to top up your fridge during the week.

The Scotsdales Garden Centre has its own food section but its selection is limited to local produce like condiments, jarred sauces, cakes, and chocolates. If you need to do the weekly shop, you will have to drive to the Tesco Superstore in Milton, which is great for those who are organised and know exactly what they need for the week.

This would be a huge problem for me, as I’m a big fan of a top-up shop and often forget what I need for the week even if I have a list. While the Tesco in Milton is only a short drive away, it would definitely be annoying to have to keep driving back and forth for extra items.

However, if you don’t mind the inconvenience of not having a shop just a short walk from your house or want to feel disconnected from the rest of the county, Horningsea is a great place to live. The two cosy pubs and impressive garden centre might make up for the lack of shops.

Middlesbrough Councillor David Branson branded some of those issuing criticisms online as “nutcases”, while emphasising that some people just have “strong opinions and that’s fair enough”.

His remarks came at a quarterly meeting of Middlesbrough Council’s standards committee today (Monday, April 20), where councillors heard that out of the total 37 complaints made against councillors in 2025, four are still ongoing – while three out of the six complaints made so far this year are still not yet resolved.

It was highlighted to councillors that so far in 2026, there have been no member-on-member complaints.

Councillor Mick Saunders said he was “very pleased” there has been no member-on-member complaints so far this year, saying: “It’s nice to know members have grown up now and no tit for tat.”

Based on the figure of just six complaints so far this year, Labour Councillor David Branson said: “That looks as if we are going to have substantially less complaints in 2026 than we had in 2025.”

When it comes to the theme of complaints, Cllr Branson was of the belief that without social media, “we’d have a much easier time”, adding: “I suspect that 90 per cent of the issue is somebody typing this thing up on a computer, that would never ever say to the person, in-person.”

Cllr Branson, who represents Coulby Newham ward, says he tends to avoid social media but when he does go on it, that’s when he sees “all the nutcases” – quickly clarifying that not all people commenting online deserve the label, “some of them are valid comments”.

He was advised by a council officer to call such individuals “people with strong opinions”, Cllr Saunders agreed, saying: “Not nutcases”.

Cllr Saunders later added he understood the point that Cllr Branson was making, regarding social media, but he thought members should “concentrate on their own ward issues”, unhappy with point scoring against other members of different wards, adding: “We’re all responsible for Middlesbrough, but we were all elected in our wards.”

He believed “a lot” of the past member-on-member complaints had come from members “interfering” with other peoples’ wards and “criticising” other ward councillors.

Labour Councillor Janet Thompson said she understood Cllr Saunders’ point but highlighted the situation where a councillor lives in a different ward to where they represent and so may issue commentary as a resident.

Cllr Saunders said people need to be “very careful”, saying members have previously “made it their job” to criticise other councillors, pointing out that members do not have “eyes all over your head”.

Cllr Thompson concurred on that very theme, thinking back to a time where she had someone telling her she didn’t live where she did live, saying the remarks “attacking” her and her husband were “unacceptable”.

A Peugeot 107 was winched to safety on Saturday (April 18) by East Riding of Yorkshire Council contractors in Withernsea, following public safety and environmental concerns.

The vehicle was found near Waxholme Road and is believed to have originated from private land before falling further down the cliff.

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Councillor Paul West, cabinet member for environment and transport at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “We arranged for our contractors to remove the vehicle from the cliff on Saturday.

“As much debris from the car was removed as possible, but we urge people to be cautious around the area where the vehicle was, in case of broken glass and other objects. Warning signs have been placed at the site.”

The car was winched up (Image: East Yorkshire Council)

The car has been identified as abandoned and will now be investigated by the council’s enforcement officers.

The council has not yet been able to identify the owner, but it is believed the vehicle may be linked to an illegal encampment previously located at the top of the cliff.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a nearly 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity.

Cook, 65, will turn the CEO duties over to Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, on Sept. 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. That’s similar to the transitions made by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a statement. “I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people.”

Ternus, 50, has been with Apple for the past quarter century, including the past five years overseeing the engineering underlying the iPhone, iPad and Mac — a role that made him a prime candidate to succeed Cook.

“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” Ternus said in a statement.

The transition to a new CEO comes at a pivotal time for Apple. Artificial intelligence has unleashed the most upheaval within the industry since Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. Apple has gotten off to a rough start in AI after stumbling in its efforts to deliver new features built on the technology, as promised nearly two years ago.

Earlier this year, Apple finally turned to Google — an early leader in the AI race — for help making the iPhone’s virtual assistant Siri into a more conversational and versatile helper.

Although he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, Cook leveraged the popularity of the iPhone and other breakthroughs orchestrated by his predecessor to lift Apple to heights that seemed unfathomable when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the mid-1990s.

Staff are calling for a “Cambridge weighting” supplement to match the University of Oxford.

Over 500 members of Cambridge University staff will strike over wages and are demanding a “Cambridge weighting” supplement to match Oxford. The Unite members are asking for a “pensionable local pay supplement” for its staff to address the high cost of living in Cambridge.

The workers are also seeking a full pay review. The strike includes workers from the library, museum, estates management, finance, student services, and IT staff.

The strikes will take place on April 21 and 22 as well as on April 30 and May 1. The picket lines will be at various locations across the university.

Cambridge University offered a 1.4% pay increase for 2025 to 2026, which has been described as a “significant real terms pay cut”. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Cambridge University is exceptionally wealthy and can more than afford to provide a fair wage for its lowest-paid workers and introduce a local pay supplement as Oxford University has. These workers have Unite’s total backing in striking to achieve this.”

The University of Oxford introduced the Oxford University Weighting of £1,500 in 2024, increased the payment to £1,730 in 2025, and extended it to all non-clinical staff. Cambridge staff currently do not receive anything similar, aside from a 2.5% interim payment.

Unite has said this payment does not address the cost of living for those on lower wages. The payment can also be removed at any time, due to “no firm commitments to retain it permanently”.

Unite has said the university can “more than afford” to introduce a Cambridge weighting payment. Cambridge University had net assets of £8.26 billion at July 2025, and its endowment fund manages assets in excess of £4.5 billion.

Unite regional officer Chris Hardwick said: “Cambridge University is entirely responsible for the disruption that will be caused to students. It can entirely afford to pay Cambridge weighting and help alleviate the severe cost of living pressures its workers are suffering but is choosing not to out of greed.

“This dispute will continue to escalate until the university follows Oxford’s example and introduces a supplement to support loyal and hardworking staff.”

“Such a special job. Can’t wait to share it with you all”

Filming has wrapped for a new Channel 4 series based on the award-winning Belfast novel ‘Close to Home’.

With House of Guinness and Say Nothing star Anthony Boyle leading the cast, Close to Home revels in the reckless decadence of youth and celebrates a generation growing up in the wake of the Troubles.

Adapted for the screen by author Michael Magee, who received the prestigious 2023 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the Nero Prize for Debut Fiction 2024 for his debut novel, it sees Boyle reunite with his Netflix co-stars Seamus O’Hara and Jessica Reynolds.

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Filming began in Northern Ireland back in February and Anthony, who plays the lead Sean, took to social media to confirm that the project had wrapped last week.

Sharing a round-up of photos from the production, he said: “That’s a wrap on Close To Home.

“Such a special job. Can’t wait to share it with you all.”

Anthony also acted as Executive Producer for the four-part series and said he was “very grateful” to be able to turn his favourite book into a show.

He said: “Want to bring this story to life in the most authentic and honest way possible so people from west Belfast and all around the world see themselves and their stories reflected on screen.”

Close to Home was filmed with support from Northern Ireland Screen and Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland.

A description of the show reads: “Close to Home tells the story of Sean, a young man who finds himself back in Belfast. Back from university and back into old habits.

“Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back with his brother, his ma and all the things they never talk about.

“Back where the promised prosperity of peacetime has yet to arrive and every street has a story to tell. One night, Sean assaults a stranger at a party and everything is tipped into chaos.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our What’s On newsletter.

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO, a role he inherited from his friend – the late Steve Jobs.

In his 15-year reign the tech giant’s market value soared by more than $3.6 trillion largely thanks to the iPhone.

Cook, 65, will now hand the CEO duties to Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, on September 1 while staying on as executive chairman.

That’s similar to the transitions made by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO.

‘It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,’ Cook said in a statement.

‘I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people.’

Although he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, Cook leveraged the popularity of the iPhone and other breakthroughs orchestrated by his predecessor to lift Apple to heights that seemed unfathomable when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the mid-1990s.

The bespectacled boss of Apple, came out as gay in 2014 – the first head of a Fortune 500 company to do so.

He explained that what prompted him to make his sexuality public was the belief he could help children who were unable to speak up for themselves. This was apparently a big decision for the notoriously private Apple executive.

As he wrote in 2014: ‘While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.’

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Ellie, 15, was last seen leaving her home address in Northallerton at around 10pm on Sunday (April 19).

The missing girl is described as white, 5ft 5 inches tall, of slim build, with blonde hair.

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North Yorkshire Police said: “She may be wearing beige trousers, a beige crop top with long sleeves and white trainers.

“She may be in the Durham area.

“If you see her, please call 999. If you have any other information that could help us find her, call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

“Please quote 12260070432 when sharing information.”