Hayden Panettiere, the star of Nashville, Heroes and the Scream movie franchise, has claimed that a “well-respected” Oscar-winning actor once exposed himself to her at a party.

In an excerpt of her new memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning published by People magazine, Hayden wrote about how when she was 19, she went to an event with a friend.

Making small talk with a group of men made her uncomfortable, she wrote, so she decided to call it a night.

That’s when an “Oscar-winning actor and director” came up to her as she was putting on her coat and pointed down to what he claimed was gum on his pants.

“I looked down and recoiled,” Hayden recalled. “This well-respected, award-winning actor’s testicles were hanging out from his unzipped fly.”

Hayden said the stunt “hadn’t hurt me and I was sure it was a drunken joke, but I’d never seen a grown man do something like that”.

“I was shocked,” she noted.

Hayden also wrote about a sketchy friend who took her to a cabin on a luxury yacht where “a famous thirtysomething British singer-songwriter was lying in a bed” per Entertainment Weekly.

The now-36-year-old claimed: “He was shirtless and propped up on a few pillows with his arms positioned behind his head. From the waist down, he was covered by bedsheets, and I could see the outline of his body underneath.”

She claimed her friend then pulled the sheet away and told her: “I want you to get in bed with him. He has a huge dick.”

“The shock was so great it didn’t even occur to me to say no,” Hayden wrote.

However, she said, she didn’t let things go any further and made arrangements to leave the yacht.

As for the identities of these famous men, the I Love You, Beth Cooper actor wasn’t about to name certain names in her book.

“Things happened a long time ago, but it was to protect me and my company from being sued by some very pissed-off famous people,” she explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

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A government plan to ask supermarkets to voluntarily cap the prices of certain products to tackle the cost of living crisis has echoes of Venezuela, according to the BBC’s business editor.

Simon Jack said it could even lead to food shortages amid a mounting backlash to the idea.

The Financial Times reported that the Treasury had spoken to supermarkets about offering “incentives” to encourage them to cap the price of essentials like eggs, bread and milk.

That could include easing packaging policies and delaying potentially costly changes to healthy food rules.

On Radio 4′s Today programme, Jack said: “The British Retail Consortium said the history of price controls is not a good one. A lot of people will be forced to potentially sell things at a loss, and when that happens people stop making them.

“If you look back through history, whether it’s the US in the 70s or Venezuela more recently, you can end up with food shortages when you try and impose price controls.”

Economist Paul Johnson said he was “lost for words”.

He posted on X: “Never thought I’d see a British government trying to set food prices. If there is one highly competitive sector it is food retailing.

“Do we really want to live in a country where the state sets these prices?”

But Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said price controls “isn’t something we’re looking at”.

He told Sky News: “The government is not looking at doing this.

“Instead, what we’re doing is looking across the economy at what are the different ways that we can help households.”

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Imagine you have met the love of your life and over time, you get married and have children. You have a long, happy 10 years as a family and everything is as it should be.

Then, you look at your living room lamp and it just looks… weird. Still 3D but somehow inverted.

You can’t look away from this lamp. For days on end, you just stare. Your wife is worried, nobody can distract your from this. Then, you realise, thanks to this lamp’s distortion, that your life isn’t real. Your wife, your kids, your home, none of it is real.

This is apparently what happened to Reddit user u/temptotasssoon, who said: “My last semester at a certain college I was assaulted by a football player for walking where he was trying to drive (note he was 325lbs I was 120lbs), while unconscious on the ground I lived a different life.”

He explained that while he was staring at the lamp, it got ‘wider and deeper’ but still with inverted dimensions before he eventually woke back up.

He said: “I heard voices, screams, all kinds of weird noises and I became aware of pain…. a fucking shit ton of pain… the first words I said were “I’m missing teeth” and opened my eyes.

“I was laying on my back on the sidewalk surrounded by people that I didn’t know, lots were freaking out, I was completely confused.”

Following the accident, he was still haunted by the memories he made when he was unconscious.

He said: “I went through about 3 years of horrid depression, I was grieving the loss of my wife and children and dealing with the knowledge that they never existed, I was scared that I was going insane as I would cry myself to sleep hoping I would see her in my dreams.

“I never have, but sometimes I see my son, usually just a glimpse out of my peripheral vision, he is perpetually 5 years old and I can never hear what he says.”

Now, TikTok has given the story a new lease of life and users are sharing what their dream lives would be before realising the lamp was weird.

Grandma Droniak, a creator with 14 million followers shared her own, saying: “When my parents tell me how proud of me they are because I wanted to be famous since I was a little girl. They always believed in me but then the lamp starts to look weird.”

Another user, Nalle, said: “When I finally don’t feel excluded, I don’t compare myself to others, I actually feel good about myself and I’m not the angry daughter anymore but then the lamp starts to look weird.”

While the Reddit user’s grief may be enough to believe this really happened to them, any skeptics can rest assured that scientists widely agree that we still don’t fully understand consciousness, meaning that we definitely can’t dispute this.

• Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
• Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
• CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
• The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
• Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.

A senior Reform UK figure was left red-faced on live TV after forgetting the name of the party’s candidate in a crucial by-election.

Jake Berry, the former Tory chairman who defected to Nigel Farage’s party last year, made the embarrassing blunder during a painful interview on on BBC Newsnight.

Reform announced on Tuesday that they had chosen local plumber Robert Kenyon to take on Labour’s Andy Burnham in next month’s Makerfield by-election.

But Berry said: “What is extraordinary about this by-election is you have ‘Robert Jenkins’, a brilliant candidate for Reform…”

“That’s not his name, by the way,” presenter Victoria Derbyshire cut in. “It’s Robert Kenyon.”

“Robert Kenyon, I beg your pardon,” Berry replied after an awkward pause.

Berry also irked presenter Derbyshire as he defended Farage over the £5 million donation he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, just weeks before he abruptly decided to run for parliament.

Farage initially insisted this money was spent on security, then claimed it was a reward for his years of pro-Brexit campaigning.

The Reform leader later said that he paid for his £1.4 million house from his fees for taking part in the reality show, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, rather than the money from Harborne.

Farage is now facing a parliamentary sleaze probe over accusations he failed to properly declare the donation.

Berry sidestepped questions about the issue on Newsnight, instead pointing to the furore around Labour’s current civil war.

Derbyshire said: “So it’s not legitimate for me to be asking you questions about this, is that what you’re saying?”

Berry replied: “It’s stretched credulity to the point of emaciation when we have the very serious story of youth unemployment over 16 –”

“It’s one of many issues, we’re capable of judging many stories over the week,” the Newsnight presenter said.

When Berry attempted to dodge other questions about the donation and start talking about Rishi Sunak’s interest in cryptocurrency, Derbyshire said: “This is deflection on the most obvious scale!”

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Kylie Minogue has shared that underwent cancer treatment for the second time in 2021.

The Grammy winner opened up about the condition in her new self-titled Netflix documentary, which premiered on the platform on Wednesday.

“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself,” she explained. “Not like the first time.”

She continued: “Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well.”

Pointing out that “who knows what’s around the corner”, Kylie added that “pop music nurtures me” and that her “passion for music is greater than ever”.

Opening up about why she chose not to share her diagnosis until now, the Can’t Get You Out Of My Head singer said it was something she didn’t feel “obliged to tell the world”.

“And actually I just couldn’t at the time,” she added. “Because I was just a shell of a person. I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point.”

Referring to her musical resurgence in 2023, two years after her diagnosis, Kylie noted: “Padam Padam opened so many doors for me but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life.

“And I really just wanted to say what happened so I can let go of it. I’d sit through interviews and every opportunity I thought, ‘now’s the time’, but I kept it to myself.”

She did, however, address the subject in her music, albeit in a subtle way that passed fans by at the time, on her album track Story, taken from her 2023 release Story.

Kylie recalled: “I needed to have something that marked that time.”

In a press release to promote her Netflix doc, Kylie said she received her second diagnosis after a routine check-up, and said she made the “choice” to disclose her illness in the hopes it could help others.

“There will be someone out there who will benefit from a gentle reminder to do their check ups,” she said. “Early detection was very helpful and I am so grateful to be able to say that I am well today.”

Kylie was first diagnosed with cancer in May 2005, at the age of 36.

At the time, she was in the middle of a headlining tour and had been booked to headline Glastonbury, both of which had to be cancelled while she underwent treatment.

Upon receiving the all-clear, Kylie resumed her world tour, and made a return to pop with her 2007 album X and the documentary White Diamond.

She eventually made a guest appearance at Glastonbury in 2010, during the Scissor Sisters’ performance, and delivered her own triumphant set on the Pyramid Stage in 2019, in the Sunday afternoon “Legends” slot.

Ministers have been slammed for relaxing sanctions on Russian oil despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The government said it would allow the import of jet fuel and diesel refined in third countries amid concerns about potential shortages caused by the war in Iran.

The move flies in the face of a previous government pledge to block Russian oil refined in other countries in order to “further restrict the flow of funds to the Kremlin”.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch posted on X: “After 18 months of ‘standing up to Putin’, the Labour government quietly issued a licence allowing imports of Russian oil refined in third countries.

“Yesterday Labour MPs voted AGAINST UK oil and gas licences. We are now importing from Russia instead of drilling in the North Sea. Insane.”

Prices at the pump have soared since the start of the Iran war, which has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway which previously transported around one-fifth of the global oil supply.

On Tuesday, the RAC said the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts stands at 158.5p, which is the most expensive it has been since December 2022.

In March, energy secretary Ed Miliband insisted the UK government would not copy America’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil.

He said: “We’ve not lifted our sanctions against Russia because it is very, very important that we continue to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

“This was an illegal invasion launched more than four years ago. Our solidarity with the Ukrainian people has been incredibly important throughout these four years.

“We continue to believe that for the good the UK, we continue to maintain sanctions on Russia. We think it is incredibly important that we send a clear message to Putin on these questions.”

The Treasury has been contacted for comment.

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President Donald Trump has spent much of 2025 and 2026 speedrunning his predecessor’s arc in office: Like Joe Biden, he returned to power with grand ideological goals – but then high prices and a focus on issues he deemed inessential soured the American public on his leadership.

And now, like Biden, Trump has scored a series of election wins, imbuing his party with false confidence. With Biden, those wins came in the 2022 midterms, when Democrats did unexpectedly well and hushed intraparty conversations about whether he should run for re-election. Biden ultimately dropped out far too late, and the Democrats were doomed in 2024.

Trump’s successes in the courtroom and Republican primaries over the past month are having a similar effect, seemingly convincing a party staring at potential doom in November that there is little reason to change course or break with a president whose popularity continues to steadily decline amid a horrendously unpopular decision to attack Iran and widespread discontent over the high cost of living.

But as Trump went on a winning streak in the news, his electoral standing continued to crumble. In the Silver Bulletin polling average, he dropped from -18 at the beginning of the month to -20 on Tuesday – an approval rating that should result in Democrats winning the House, no matter how much the Supreme Courts of Virginia and the United States decide to help the Republicans draw and keep favourable congressional district lines.

Culminating in the ouster of Representative Thomas Massie on Tuesday night, Trump’s winning streak from Indiana to Louisiana to Kentucky was impressive.

A month ago, Republican strategists thought it possible Trump could lose in all three. But it is indicative of both the financial war chest his allies have assembled and of his popularity with the narrow slice of the country casting votes in Republican primaries, not a sign of a broader turnaround with the public.

Within the closed circuit of conservative media and politics, it may be enough to further quiet dissenters. Republicans long ago signalled most of their candidates would stick with Trump most of the time, arguing that only he can bring out a segment of conservative voters who otherwise ignore politics.

“Do not ever doubt President Trump and his political power. Fuck around, find out,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on social media, using the movie tough guy language that is the lingua franca of the Trump administration.

Other Republicans seem to have gotten the message. Representative Mike Lawler, who represents a district Trump lost in all three of his presidential runs and is considered highly vulnerable in November, is set to campaign with Trump on Friday.

“For folks to be able to hear directly from the president on these issues matters, and my district is certainly not just one of the most competitive in the country, but it’s a district that the president moved significantly,” Lawler told the New York Post in announcing the trip, noting Trump improved in his district from 2020 to 2024.

Emboldened by his victories in Indiana and Louisiana, Trump decided to endorse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for Senate on Tuesday, which prompted barely hidden rejoicing among Democrats, who think the ethically-challenged Paxton will put the state in play for Democratic state Representative James Talarico.

Trump’s unpopularity could also help bail Democrats out of some questionable decisions.

On Tuesday night, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms cruised to a primary victory in Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, defeating her closest competition by a 40-point margin. Some Democrats have worried about Bottoms’ viability in November, fretting over possible Republican attacks on her tenure as mayor, which included the chaotic summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd.

But Republicans have their own issues. Their two candidates who advanced to a runoff, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson, are far closer to Trump than to popular Republican Governor Brian Kemp in style and temperament.

For her final ad before the primary, Bottoms mocked the dynamic between Jones and Jackson, arguing they were “two grown men fighting to kiss the a** of an a**.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Bottoms declared in the spot. “Unlike some people, I’m not running for governor to be Donald Trump. I’m running for governor to stand up to him.”