A number of other places across Iran, including Ardabil, Saveh, Hormozgan, Karaj and Tabriz have reported explosions.
It comes after Donald Trump threatened military action against the regime, but it remains unclear at this stage whether the strikes today are linked to any US military action.
Local reports indicate four people have been killed as a result of the incidents.
Advertisement
An image from the explosion site at the port of Bandar Abbas shows locals standing near a mangled car.
The port on the Strait of Hormuz provides a vital shipping route between Iran and Oman. It is responsible for handling around a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil – and is also believed to be the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy HQ.
Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, earlier this week with an ominous warning.
He said while the “massive Aramada is heading to Iran” with a “larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela”, he urged officials to agree to his deal.
Advertisement
“Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties,” Trump wrote.
“Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran.”
He’s currently under suspicion of murdering Ray and in a cruel turn of events, Ray is about to reach out from beyond the grave and make things a whole lot worse.
Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) is clutching at the tiniest straw that new evidence may come to light ahead of their trial on 4th May. He gets his wish, but it doesn’t go the way he hopes.
The Dingles are hellbent on getting Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) freed, which prompts Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley), who’s guilty of framing Moira for her crimes, to approach Bear and pressure him for information that might save her.
Advertisement
Bear faced a huge struggle after killing Ray at the start of the year (Picture: ITV)
Bear gives him a glimmer of hope in the form of a number plate Ray once asked him to hide. Robert uses Kammy to trace it to a storage facility and with the key Marlon (Mark Charnock) found at Celia’s farm, they open it.
In the interview room, DS Walsh slaps Bear with the first bit of new evidence – bank statements that show Ray made payments into an account in his name.
DS Walsh is determined to nail the case (Picture: ITV)
DS Walsh has a new theory, and it’s compounded by a throwaway comment Bear makes that Ray said he’d always take care of him.
The detective theorises that Bear was in fact Ray’s partner and that he murdered him in a bid for control of the whole organisation.
Packer, 36, who has a five-year-old son named Oliver, also lifted the World Cup with England in 2014.
Advertisement
In a joint Instagram post the pair, who both play for Saracens, wrote: “Baby Packer due October 2026 and your mummies and big brother can’t wait to meet you.”
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
Today, we discuss the ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran. The deal was agreed last night just hours after President Trump had threatened Iran’s ‘civilisation will die.’
But Israel has continued to strike Lebanon, with the US saying it’s not included in the ceasefire deal. And, Vice-President JD Vance will lead US negotiating talks aimed at the war with Iran in Pakistan on Saturday.
Adam is joined by BBC News chief presenter Caitríona Perry, chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet and Parham Ghobadi from BBC Persian.
Advertisement
You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.
You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord
Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.
New episodes released every day. If you’re in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd
Advertisement
Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter Adam Fleming. It was made by Chris Gray with Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producer was Jem Westgate. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Presenter Carol McGiffin was on the panel of the ITVs talk show for several years
Julia Hunt and Rebecca Jones
21:03, 08 Apr 2026
Former Loose Women presenter Carol McGiffin has said the ITV programme was once “brilliant” and “hilarious” but that it’s “not like that” anymore.
The TV star featured on the show on and off between 2000 and 2023, when she left, reports the Express.
Advertisement
During a recent discussion with journalist and YouTuber Andrew Gold, she reflected on her time with the talk show, explaining: “I started in 2000, so I was there for 13 years and left for five, and then I went back.
“And back in the day, it was absolutely brilliant – even I sit there looking at the old clips on YouTube and just think, ‘Wow, that show was brilliant.’ It was hilarious, it was funny, everybody got on, it was sassy – it was just completely different.”
Laughing, she remarked it’s “not like that” any longer.
Carol also claimed that she “got censored so many times”.
“We would sit in a meeting and talk about what we were going to be talking about on the show, and I would say something, and they’d be like, ‘No, you can’t say that’,” she revealed.
The star suggested that everyone had to “kind of agree with each other” and reckons that they “still do it now”.
Advertisement
She claimed: “I am pretty sure there are people on that show who don’t think like that, but they do because they want to keep their job.”
When questioned about what she could express during her initial period on Loose Women, which she felt unable to voice later, Carol responded: “Well, we didn’t have the ‘fake pandemic’ then. That was the straw which broke the camel’s back, really.”
She continued: “When I watch the clips, I go, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we were allowed to say that.’
Advertisement
“In some of the skits we used to do with half-naked men, it was just a laugh, and the men were very willing. We didn’t have them tied up around the back. We always got a little bit slated for it but, you know, it was funny, it was just fun. It was a bit embarrassing!”
England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler found form at the Indian Premier League before winning the match for Gujarat Titans with a final-ball run-out in a remarkable one-run victory over Delhi Capitals.
Buttler, who had gone 18 innings without a fifty including his difficult run at the T20 World Cup, looked closer to his best form in hitting 52 from 27 balls in Gujarat’s 210-4.
He struck five sixes, including one trademark scoop and a towering six over long-on, before being dismissed in the eighth over.
But his influence was not done there as he ran out Kuldeep Yadav – throwing down the stumps with an underarm effort from his position as keeper – as the India spinner and David Miller tried to scamper a single from the final ball with two runs needed.
Advertisement
South Africa international Miller had hit two sixes and two fours in the 19th over before clearing the ropes again in the last, only to turn down a single with two balls to go and then miss seamer Prasidh Krishna’s bouncer to finish.
A crestfallen Miller finished 41 not out from 20 balls while opener KL Rahul made 92.
“Amazing,” Buttler said. “Great to get the win. It was a very lucky throw but I am delighted.
“We desperately needed a win and I am glad we manage to sneak through.”
Advertisement
Buttler’s fifty was his first across formats since a 97 not out in the SA20 in early January.
He averaged 10.9 across eight matches at the T20 World Cup and made 38 from 33 balls and a 14-ball 26 in his previous innings at this year’s IPL.
Here his first runs came with a six over long-on and he followed by hitting India spinner Axar Patel for four over extra cover and another six over long-on.
He then scooped and drove seamer Mukesh Kumar as Gujarat took 63 from the first five overs. India Test captain Shubman Gill also hit 70 from 45 balls and all-rounder Washington Sundar 55 from 32.
Advertisement
“I have been searching for [runs] a little but felt in good touch since I have been here,” Buttler said.
“I have played long enough to know that it will come back at some point.”
The former England captain was bowled by a ball from Kuldeep which skidded low, but the knock was an encouraging return for one of England’s greatest white-ball players, whose place in the national side came under scrutiny during the World Cup.
His tournament included a run of five single-figure scores but England stuck with him throughout their run to the semi-finals.
Advertisement
After the IPL, Buttler will play in the T20 Blast for Lancashire before England’s first white-ball matches of the summer against India in July.
England’s focus switches to the 50-over format this summer with the next World Cup the one-day international edition in the autumn of 2027.
Buttler has not scored a 50-over fifty since February 2023. He averaged 17.9 over 30 international innings across formats this winter.
Donald Trump is once again appealing a blockbuster fraud penalty against the president and his real-estate empire after his political adversary Letitia James won a multi-million dollar verdict against his sprawling family business.
Last year, a fractured state appeals court tossed a $500 million penalty against Trump and his associates after judges determined the penalty, which has ballooned with interest, was “excessive.”
But the court upheld Justice Arthur Engoron’s findings that the president and his business partners committed brazen fraud, falling short of the vindication that the president sought through the courts to save him.
The president is now asking to throw out the remaining fraud ruling, which his legal team claimed is based on politically motivated and “legally and factually baseless” and “demonstrably wrong” arguments.
Advertisement
The 119-page appeal called on the court to “put an end to this legally deficient case.”
They accused James — who was targeted by Trump’s Department of Justice after her victory in the fraud case — of “unconstitutional selective enforcement.”
“The reason here was pure politics, as Attorney General James’s own statements make clear,” they wrote.
In 2024, Engoron’s verdict in Manhattan determined that Trump and his co-defendants in his Trump Organization empire had illegally enriched themselves by defrauding banks and investors as part of a decade-long scheme to secure favorable financing terms for some of his brand-building properties.
Advertisement
The decision followed a bench trial and three-year investigation under James’s office, who had accused Trump and his associates of fraudulently convincing banks and lenders to give them favorable financing terms based on bogus and inflated financial statements.
The event will mark the 10th anniversary of Bowie’s death at aged 69 from liver cancer.
Matthew George and Eilidh Farquhar Trainee Trends, Showbiz and Lifestyle Writer
19:30, 08 Apr 2026Updated 19:30, 08 Apr 2026
David Bowie’s famous Glastonbury band are set to reunite on the banks of Loch Lomond this November in order to raise money for one of the rock star’s favourite charities – Save the Children. The event will also mark the 10th anniversary of Bowie’s passing from liver cancer, aged only 69.
Throughout this legendary career Bowie continually showed support for the charity. This included donating the proceeds of his 50th birthday celebration at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1997, which was a show that included stars such as Lou Reed, Robert Smith of The Cure and The Foo Fighters.
The fundraising event, titled Bowie: Live on the Loch, will take place on November 7 and 8 at Cameron House and will include his band playing live music from their headlining Glastonbury Festival set from 2000. The band will include guitarist Earl Slick, keyboard player Mike Garson, and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey.
Advertisement
Garson played on more than a dozen of Bowie’s albums including Aladdin Sane, while Dorsey also provided a vocal duet on Under Pressure at the Glastonbury set, which quickly became a highlight of the appearance.
The house band will also include multi-instrumentalist Mark Plati and drummer Sterling Campbell, who played with Bowie from the early 1990s. The band will also be joined by a variety of special guests.
In the video to announce the upcoming event, which sees Slick playing Golden Years on the roof of Cameron House, he says the fundraiser will be a “celebration of David Bowie’s life and music in aid of Save the Children”.
Advertisement
In addition to the performance, the event will also have rare footage of Bowie and a photo exhibition put together by Chris Duffy, who is the son of Brian Duffy, who shot three of the rock star’s album covers. There will also be a gala dinner by Michelin-starred chef Graeme Cheevers and an auction of signed guitars.
Slick, who played lead guitar on Bowie’s 1970s Young Americans and Station To Station albums as well as Heathen, Reality and comeback 2013 album The Next Day, will host the guitar auction with London shop Regent Sound, with confirmed contributions from Peter Frampton and Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses.
Speaking about Bowie’s love for the charity, Slick said: “David had a lot of motivation to help out. It wasn’t a big bragging thing – it was just done.
“That’s what I loved about it. He did it under the radar. We all live in increasingly uncertain and turbulent times around the world.
Advertisement
“More kids need more help. So it’s time to do it and I cannot think of anything that David would rather lend his support to.”
Funds for the Save the Children charity will be raised by ticket sales, merchandise and a live auction, as well as the charity auction.
George Graham, executive director of global impact at Save the Children, said: “With so much instability and uncertainty around the globe, it is an exceptionally challenging and dangerous time to be a child in so many corners of the world.
Advertisement
“At Save the Children, our only goal is to support children so they can have a safe, happy and healthy childhood. We are deeply grateful to everyone who is honouring David Bowie by backing this star-studded weekend, which will help bring a better future for children here in the UK and around the world.”
Bowie had played in Scotland a few times over his career, with his first show being at the Palais in Dundee in April 1965. Back then he supported Johnny Kidd and The Pirates with this group David Bowie and The Buzz. He also famously performed at Glasgow Barrowlands back in 1997.
A woman went into labor and gave birth inside Rogers Place in Alberta, Canada, last week during the Las Vegas, Knights’ victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
“Breaking news: We have word that someone has gone into labor here tonight,” play-by-play announcer Jack Michaels said during the second period on the Sportsnet broadcast. “There’s a baby being born on the seventh floor at Rogers Place as we speak.”
“So someone’s going to have a great story to tell,” Michaels added, before joking, “It would be nice to have the mother join us on After Hours to describe what’s happened, but that could be asking a bit much.”
Advertisement
The mother, who has yet to be publicly identified, did not appear on the sports network’s post-game show.
“Someone’s going to have a great story to tell,” a play-by-play announcer said (Getty Images)
Details about the mother and newborn have not been released, and it remains unclear whether medical personnel assisted with the delivery.
The Independent has contacted Rogers Place for comment.
While details on the birth itself are slim, fans on social media had big reactions to the once-in-a-lifetime event.
“At least someone is delivering, [Connor] McDavid sure ain’t,” one X user wrote, referring to the Oilers’ center and captain.
Advertisement
“They better get season tickets for life,” another person suggested.
Others offered up their baby name ideas.
“Did she make it back for the 3rd period? And what’s the kid’s name? Rogers, Connor, or Seven (any Seinfeld fans?)?” one person asked.
“I think they name the baby Roger. Roger’s Place,” another said.
Advertisement
The Golden Knights defeated the Oilers 5-1, ending Edmonton’s five-game winning streak in a game that also saw a fan struck by a puck and a late on-ice fight, just weeks before the NHL regular season wraps April 16 and the playoffs begin.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman told The Associated Press on Wednesday in his first interview since the ouster that he was “blindsided” by the move but has no hard feelings and is unlikely to sue.
Rothman was fired on Tuesday night in a unanimous vote by the board of regents following a roughly 30-minute closed-door discussion. Regents have not given a reason for firing Rothman, who was in the job for just under four years.
“Absolutely I was blindsided,” Rothman told the AP. He said he has still not been given a reason for his firing.
“I really don’t know,” Rothman said. “I asked for reasons why. They were not able to articulate any.”
Advertisement
But Rothman, who came to the job in 2022 after serving as chair and CEO of a Milwaukee-based law firm with more than 1,000 attorneys, said he is unlikely to file a lawsuit over his firing.
“We’ll have to see how circumstances develop,” Rothman said. “I don’t think it’s likely that I would go in that direction. That’s not who I am.”
The AP was the first to report on April 2 that the regents had asked Rothman, 66, to retire or resign or face being fired. Rothman said on Wednesday that he considered retiring, but since regents gave him no reason, he decided against it.
Regent President Amy Bogost said in a statement before the firing that the decision was “about the future” of the 13-university system, including the flagship Madison campus, that educates about 165,000 students.
Advertisement
“The Universities of Wisconsin must be led with a clear vision that both protects and strengthens our flagship, supports our comprehensive universities and ensures we are meeting the evolving needs of our students, workforce and communities across all 72 counties,” Bogost said.
She did not immediately return a message on Wednesday seeking comment.
Rothman did not criticize any regent by name, but he did express frustration generally with the board.
“For a board to be functional, it needs to be able to provide clarity to the management team,” he said. “Not 18 different voices with different opinions and pet projects. There has to be board leadership that is able to consolidate that, build a consensus and provide clear direction.”
Advertisement
Rothman said his performance objectives were not even discussed in his last review in August, which he said was “astonishing.”
Rothman spent his time as president lobbying Republican legislators to increase state aid for the system in the face of federal cuts, navigating free speech issues surrounding pro-Palestinian protests, and grappling with declining enrollment that has forced eight branch campuses to close. Overall enrollment across the system has remained steady under his leadership.
Rothman brokered a deal with Republicans in 2023 that called for freezing diversity hires and creating a position at UW-Madison focused on conservative thought in exchange for the Legislature releasing money for UW employee raises and tens of millions of dollars for construction projects across the system.
Rothman said Wednesday he didn’t know if any of those particular issues contributed to his being fired, but conceded they could have.
Advertisement
“When you come in to affect change and you try to move an organization forward, you have to make difficult decisions,” Rothman said. “And when you make difficult decisions, you can upset some people.”
Sen. Patrick Testin, the Republican president of the Wisconsin state Senate, called Rothman’s firing a “blatant partisan hatchet job.”
The state Senate’s committee that oversees higher education scheduled a hearing for Thursday for 10 regents whose appointments by Evers have yet to be confirmed. Testin called for the Senate to reject all 10, which would mean they could no longer serve as regents.
Rothman said he wasn’t going to speculate on why he was cut loose.
Advertisement
“I am disappointed with the board’s action, but I’m not angry,” he said. “This is not about retribution. I’m concerned about the future of the Universities of Wisconsin.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login