The Philadelphia Eagles will play in London as part of the NFL’s international games next season.

The NFL will stage a record nine regular-season games overseas during 2026, with three in the UK while Australia and France are hosts for the first time.

The London series begins on 4 October with the Washington Commanders hosting the Indianapolis Colts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will then host games on the following two Sundays against the Eagles at Tottenham then the Houston Texans at Wembley.

The first international game will take place during the first week of the season, with the Los Angeles Rams having a divisional match-up against the San Francisco 49ers at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The 49ers will also face the Minnesota Vikings as the NFL returns to Mexico, while the Baltimore Ravens meet the Dallas Cowboys in the league’s first game in Rio de Janeiro.

There will be three games in continental Europe, with the New Orleans Saints facing the Pittsburgh Steelers as Paris hosts its first game at the Stade de France.

The Cincinnati Bengals then face the Atlanta Falcons at the home of Real Madrid while the New England Patriots, who reached last season’s Super Bowl, will take on the Detroit Lions in Munich.

Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: “The formal commitment to legislation to stamp out late payments is an historic moment for small firms, who have spent years battling a culture of poor payment practices by big businesses towards their smaller suppliers.

Openreach’s Stop Sell programme means households will no longer be able to sign up for traditional copper broadband and phone services

Whether you welcome it or not, the traditional copper landlines that criss-cross the UK are firmly on their way out. The nationwide transition to so-called “Digital Voice” services has been scheduled for January 2027, signalling the end of the ageing copper-wire telephone network.

Once the deadline comes into effect, households will make calls via their broadband connections instead. The shift represents one of the most significant overhauls to UK communications infrastructure in living memory, and in a bid to speed up the move away from outdated systems, BT’s Openreach network is pressing ahead with its “Stop Sell” programme.

Under these regulations, providers including BT, Sky, Plusnet, and TalkTalk are no longer permitted to offer new copper-based broadband and telephone services in affected areas.

Stop Sell notifications have already been rolled out across numerous parts of the UK in recent years, and Openreach has now confirmed a further expansion covering 238 exchange locations and approximately 1.69 million premises, reports the Mirror.

Once these changes come into force, customers looking to upgrade, switch, or take out new services will be required to move to full fibre broadband and digital telephone services, rather than the outdated copper network.

Openreach explained: “Stop Sell is triggered when a majority (75%) of premises connected to a particular exchange can access ultrafast Full Fibre. Customers wanting to switch, upgrade or re-grade their broadband or phone service will then need to take a new digital service over our Full Fibre network.” By early June, Stop Sell regulations will come into force across 1,432 exchanges throughout the country, affecting around 14.2 million properties.

James Lilley, Openreach’s Managed Customer Migrations Director, said: “Our Stop Sell programme is a vital step in accelerating the UK’s transition to a modern full fibre future. As copper’s ability to support modern communications declines, the immediate focus is moving people onto newer, future-proof technologies.

“By phasing out legacy copper-based services in areas where fibre is widely available, we’re helping customers and providers migrate to faster, more reliable digital infrastructure. This also reduces the cost and complexity of maintaining both old and new networks ahead of the nationwide shutdown of the legacy copper-based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which is now less than eight months away.”

Full list of locations

Farnsfield • Quor • Sileby • Tibshelf • Layton • Hetton Le Hole • Marton • Pinxton • Spofforth • Cudworth • New Ollerton • Rottingdean • Castle Donington • Blidworth • North Carlton • Jarrow Bilsthorpe • Illingworth • Strensall • Harefield • Cosham • Donnington • Ramsbottom • Shettleston • Brediland • Filton • Dudley • Cheetham • Dinsdale • Garston • New Oakley • Bingley • Maltby • Upton Park • Markyate • Potters Bar • Churchdown • Pollok • Shawbury • Polmont Brierley Hill • Epping • Cowley • Wembley • Strood • Scotstoun • Dunfermline • Headington • Halifax • Parsons Green • Haworth • Darwen • Radcliffe On Trent • Cuckoo Oak • Newton Mearns• Farnworth • East Herrington • Earl Shilton • Atherstone • Winterbourne • Braunstone • Kenilworth • Collyhurst • Wigton •Jedburgh • Wester Hailes • Langside • Godalming • Norwich City • Aberdeen Kingswells • Welwyn • Hurley • Wareham • Maryport • Cleator Moor • Mold West

Braintree • Ridgewell • Saint Osyth • Moreton Morrell (MXL) Lighthorne • Slade Green • Gravesend • Repton • Castle Douglas • Annan • Lanchester • Cockfield • Rushyford • Epworth • Finningley • Ranskill • Keadby • Bewdley • North Berwick • Walkerburn • Drymen Killearn • Falfield • Coleford • Bredon • Alton • Southwold • Mauchline • Lochgelly • Kirkby • Kirkby Lonsdale • Oakham • Narborough • Wrexham North • Ruthin (RGH) • Tynygongl • Stow • Barwick In Elmet • Bearsted • Woburn Sands • Great Barford • Forth • Tinto • Burnopfield

• Ebchester • Bedlington • Dudley (DYE) • Corbridge • Tuxford • West Haddon • Bozeat • Machen • Swanton Morley • Martham • Terrington St John • Warboys • St. Michaels • Burghfield Common • Stocksbridge • Bishopston • Glantawe • Crynant • Pencader • Pembroke • Knebworth • Wilmslow Chapel En Le Frith • Corsham • Borth • Henlade • Hawick • Heathfield • Castleham • Camborne Wychbold (WYG) • Whitby • Needham • Watton Dummy • Holme On Spalding Moor • Holbrook • Hightown Caerleon • Cockermouth • Hebden Bridge • Otham (OTM) • Gourock (GHU) • Folkestone • Harrington • Pentyrch • Ferndale • Scartho • Birchwood • Corby • Bloxham • Clydach • Keswick • Nelson • Measham • Ambleside • Cinderford • Treharris • Llanfairfechan • Amble • Mundesley • Broseley • Flookburgh • Brackley • Penclawdd • Hassocks • Braithwaite • Cardigan • Tenbury Wells • Waltham • Hexham Swanage • Washingborough • Norwich West • Tiptree • Leabrooks • Belper • Welwyn Garden • Mablethorpe • Heckington • Stottesdon • Penybont • Machrie • Pilling • Trefeglwys •

Tummelbridge • Capel • Cotheridge • Hanmer • Bratton Clovelly • Temple • Auchengray • Kilcreggan • Pilning • Menmuir (MUR) • Auchenmalg • Buchlyvie • Aberfoyle • Arden • Canon Pyon • Back • Dalchreichart • Craigie • Crosshill • Latheron • Llanfairtalhaiarn • Great Whittington • Hartburn • Penhow • Nantyderry • Madderty • Cairngorm • Plaistow • Dormans Park • Llangennith • Cynghordy • Hilderstone • Cressage • Cleehillstone • Dunscore

What is Digital Voice?

Digital Voice is BT’s next-generation home telephone service. This digital calling system, which connects households via broadband technology, provides modern features unavailable on traditional landline services, including Multi Call, three-way conference calling, and call diversion to any other phone number, including mobile phones.

Call quality should also be significantly enhanced with Digital Voice, although you will require a compatible Digital Home phone to benefit from these improvements.

For the majority of households, switching to Digital Voice will make no difference to how they use their telephone. The cost of the new Digital Voice and broadband service is incorporated within a single package price, with no additional charge for Digital Voice.

The iconic snooker gameshow is returning to our screens after nearly 25 years away

Iconic snooker gameshow Big Break is returning to our screens after more than two decades, with the BBC confirming that the much-loved programme is being revived with presenter Paddy McGuinness and seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry at the helm.

In the announcement made earlier this week, the corporation confirmed that the revamped series will have a “brand-new look and feel” while retaining the spirit of the original show, with professional snooker players from across the circuit joining contestants in a bid to win cash prizes and Hendry showcasing a range of trick shots.

The original show became a cult hit after it launched back in 1991, with comedian Jim Davidson and former snooker champion John Virgo forming an unlikely but hugely popular partnership, with the former presenting and the latter starring as a referee.

It ran for over a decade and proved a huge hit with viewing figures peaking at almost 14 million people, before it aired for the final time in 2002.

Virgo – who was known as ‘The Voice of Snooker’ after moving into commentary for the BBC following his 18-year playing career – tragically passed away earlier this year at the age of 79, leaving the sport in mourning.

Tributes poured in from across the the worlds of snooker and television, with Davidson among those to remember him as a “great snooker player, great dad and a great bloke”.

Virgo and Davidson’s friendship may have been an unlikely one, with the two men at opposite ends of the political spectrum, but it was one which lasted beyond the show’s final broadcast as they continued to team up to do pantomime together for eight years.

However, Davidson has since been widely criticised for a series of controversial remarks and incidents, including making numerous offensive jokes about women, racial and ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community during his stand-up performances.

Now 72, the comedian has claimed he was unfairly “cancelled” by the BBC, alleging on GB News that he was paid £1 million by the corporation to “go away” after finding success as a presenter.

In an interview with the Daily Express, Virgo previously shared his true feelings on Davidson and the show that helped to build his career in the media, admitting he had been sceptical about its chances of success when he was first offered the opportunity.

“All of a sudden, I get this phone call, ‘Would you be interested in doing this TV show, a quiz show with snooker, with this comedian, Jim Davidson’,” he recalled. “I’d met him once a few years previously, but I didn’t really know him. It was funny because we got there and he didn’t know much about snooker.

“In all honesty, after doing the first couple of shows, I was thinking, ‘I don’t see how this works’. Anyway, we did eight [episodes]. We took over the slot from A Question of Sport on a Tuesday night and the viewing figures were better! That shows you the popularity of snooker at the time.

“Then I got another phone call and they wanted us to go back into the studio to do another 18!,” Virgo added. “We ran for 10 years and peaked at nearly 14 million viewers. It was remarkable.”

On his friendship with Davidson, the late BBC commentator added: “It’s a funny thing about life. He’s your crafty Conservative comedian and I’m your dour northern socialist. How do you come up with that? But obviously the chemistry worked.

“Although Jim didn’t know much about snooker, what a funny man and a very generous man to work with. We really got on well. Besides, when you’re in those positions, the most important thing is that the show works.”

As for the controversies surrounding his former colleague, Virgo later admitted that Davidson no longer being on TV was “understandable” but also a “waste of talent”.

In an interview with The Telegraph in 2022, he added that the pair no longer spoke regularly, but shared “a warmth that I don’t get with many people” whenever they happened to cross paths.

“Jim is a comic genius and yet he can’t appear on television, because he has a black mark against his name,” said Virgo. “It’s understandable. I just feel it’s a waste of a talent.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than 100 Russian drones targeted areas of Ukraine on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, hours after another barrage of civilian areas killed at least eight people.

“Russia continues its strikes and is doing so brazenly — deliberately targeting our railway infrastructure and civilian sites in our cities,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

The overnight strikes targeted Ukraine’s residential and railway infrastructure in the central Dnipro and northeastern Kharkiv regions, port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, and energy facilities in the central Poltava region, according to Zelenskyy. On Tuesday, he said, 14 regions came under attack throughout the day.

“It is important to support Ukraine and not remain silent about Russia’s war. Every time the war disappears from the top of the news, it encourages Russia to become even more savage,” Zelenskyy said, in an apparent reference to world attention being gripped by the Iran war.

Moscow’s attacks on its neighbor are unrelenting, even as Ukraine is emboldened by its recent military accomplishments and as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin claim — without providing evidence — that the war could be approaching the end.

Trump and Putin talk of a possible end to the war

Trump said Tuesday said he believes Moscow and Kyiv will soon reach a deal to end fighting.

“The end of the war in Ukraine I really think is getting very close,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a summit in Beijing. “Believe it or not, it’s getting closer.”

Putin said in a speech last weekend that his invasion of Ukraine is possibly “coming to an end.”

Neither leader elaborated on what persuaded them about the possibility of peace in Europe’s longest conflict since World War II. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to end the war have fizzled after making no progress on key issues, such as whether Russia gets to keep Ukrainian land and what can be done to deter Russia from invading again.

Meanwhile, European governments are assessing the merits of opening talks with Putin. Europe has for years tried to isolate the Russian leader and punished his country with international sanctions.

War appears to shift in Ukraine’s favor

The correlation of forces in the war has shifted in recent months. Ukraine has gone from pleading for international help with its defense to offering foreign countries expertise on how to counter attacks, thanks to its domestically developed drone technology.

Ukraine’s long-range drone and missile attacks have disrupted energy facilities and manufacturing deep inside Russia, with three Russian regions reporting strikes Wednesday. The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 286 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula, the Azov Sea and the Black Sea.

On the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line, the advance of Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army has been slowing every month since last October, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia’s spring offensive has floundered, with Russian forces recording a net loss of territory last month for the first time since 2024, the Washington-based think tank said.

“Not only are Ukrainian defensive lines holding, but Ukrainian forces have managed to contest the tactical initiative in several areas of the front line even as Russia continues to lose disproportionate amounts of manpower to achieve minimal gains,” the ISW said Tuesday.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The Teddy Bears’ Picnic will take place on Wednesday, May 27, with a day of activities planned between 11am and 3pm, starting at Leeming Bar Station.

Children are invited to bring their favourite teddy bears and can begin the day by collecting a trail booklet from the ticket office before searching for hidden bears around the station.

Young visitors are being invited to bring their favourite cuddly toys for a day of games, train rides and stories as the Teddy Bears’ Picnic returns to Wensleydale Railway this May half-term (Image: Wensleydale Railway)

The adventure continues with a short train journey to Scruton Station, where the fun carries on with face painting, Victorian games and toys, story time, badge making, and harmonium music.

Children who complete the trail will receive a reward.

Nick Keegan, marketing and fundraising manager at Wensleydale Railway, said: “there is always something to do at our railway to keep children (and adults) entertained during the school holidays! In addition to our Teddy Bears’ Picnic event, we have trains operating between Leeming Bar & Scruton and Leeming Bar & Leyburn.”

Mr Keegan also encouraged visitors to explore the historic sites along the route.

He said: “Why not visit our restored station building museum at Leeming Bar and learn about rural railway life in the 1920s.

“Enjoy a free tour with our costumed living history interpreters! You can then board a train for short ride east to Scruton, to visit this beautifully restored Edwardian station.

“Once again, our living history interpreters will be on hand to show you around and share this station’s rich history with you.”

Visitors are welcome to bring their own picnics, though snacks and refreshments will be available for purchase at both Scruton Station and the buffet car at Leeming Bar.

Entry to the event is £6 per child, which includes the trail booklet and return train travel from Leeming Bar to Scruton.

Adults will need to purchase a return ticket for £5.

More details about the Teddy Bears’ Picnic and ticket bookings are available at https://wensleydale-railway.co.uk/teddybears/