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UK June heat record pushed even further to 37.3CA provisional temperature of 37.3C has been reached in Santon Downham, in Suffolk, setting another record UK high for June, the Met Office said, as rare red warnings remain in place on FridayThis beats the previously reported 37.1C from earlier today, which was provisionally set in Cavendish, Suffolk this afternoon.These smashed the longstanding record for June heat – which dates back to the summer of 1976 – by more than 1C, which is significant given such records were usually broken only by a fraction of a degree in the past.Forecasters expect temperatures…

Preparations have been concluded for the first coronation anniversary of the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella Kingdom, His Royal Majesty Michael Sado, with a series of cultural, religious and community development activities scheduled to commemorate his first year on the throne. The celebration is expected to bring together sons and daughters of Okpella, alongside traditional rulers and other dignitaries, in what organisers describe as an opportunity to promote the kingdom’s cultural heritage and foster unity among its people. As part of the programme, the monarch will embark on visits to the various ruling areas within the kingdom in a move aimed at…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldDonald Trump has warned that he will slap a 100 per cent tariff on any European countries that implement a digital services tax on American companies.The levy would supersede any trade deals between the US and those countries “whether implemented, signed, or not”, Trump said on Friday.The US president said “numerous” European countries have been discussing the “imminent implementation” of a digital services tax on US companies, and that some countries were “close” to putting this into practice.“Please let this…

OpenAI is staggering the release of its latest AI model after a request from the US government, in a move echoing the launch of Anthropic’s Mythos product.Sam Altman, the chief executive of the company behind ChatGPT, told staff this week that GPT 5.6 would be released in a limited preview to a small group of partners, according to the tech publication The Information.Altman said the federal government had asked for a staggered release. The CEO told staff in a memo that the government would be “approving access customer by customer during this preview period” for GPT 5.6 and that it…

President Trump says he doesn’t care about the midterm elections. He says he doesn’t think much about Americans’ economic hardship resulting from the war in Iran. And now he is brushing off a landmark, bipartisan bill to lower housing costs in the United States, characterizing the legislation as a matter of “minor importance.”At a moment of political peril for the president and Republicans, Mr. Trump’s priorities seem increasingly detached from the concerns of voters and his party. His focus is trained on his own obsessions and pet projects, including his expansive and costly renovations at the White House and around…

The Secret World of TwilightSally Coulthard Apollo (2026)“Twilight is the blazing cauldron that separates day from night,” writes Sally Coulthard in her charming natural history of dawn and dusk, when skies radiate colours, landscapes change their mood and creatures come out of the shadows. As a prolific nature writer living in a farmhouse in rural England with her gardener husband and flocks of animals, Coulthard is well qualified. Her vivid examples include a Yorkshire slang term: ‘sparrow’s fart’, meaning the near-silent moment before dawn when you might catch the faint “parps” of a waking bird.The Hidden Lives of Lab AnimalsLarry…

World championship leader Kimi Antonelli completed a Friday practice double at the Austrian Grand Prix with a dominant showing in the second session at the Red Bull Ring. Having edged his Mercedes team-mate George Russell by just four hundredths of a second in the opening session, Antonelli separated himself from the field later in the day with a time of 1:07.014s. That put the 19-year-old Italian 0.237s clear of Oscar Piastri in second place, with the Australian’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris almost a tenth further back in third. The margin was made all the more impressive by the fact Antonelli’s…

By Enitan Abdultawab Nollywood actor Joseph Momodu has announced his enlistment into the United States Army, describing the achievement as a tribute to his late father and the culmination of months of intense physical and mental training. The actor shared the news in a heartfelt post on his official Instagram account on Friday, revealing that he completed 10 weeks of Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, before being officially enlisted as a Specialist in the US Army. Reflecting on the journey, Momodu said the accomplishment was earned through perseverance, sacrifice and determination. “From inception, I have always believed…

For many, dressing for an extreme heatwave means wearing as little as possible. But for some men, not even record-breaking temperatures can dissuade them from pulling on their favourite pair of jeans.This week as temperatures in the UK rose sharply on the back of the climate crisis, Andy Burnham stuck to his tried and tested “cool dad” combination of dark jeans with a dark blue (not black as he pointed out to Kemi Badenoch) T-shirt as he made his way to London to be sworn in as MP for Makerfield.Jonathan Anderson takes his post-show bow in Paris on Wednesday wearing…

10 Downing Street has two things: mice and a chief mouser. For more than a decade, an officially recognized feline has kept the residence’s rodent infestation to a minimum.Over a similar period, the official residence of Canada’s prime minister has seen an unchecked explosion of rodents.Nests and vast quantities of feces were found throughout 24 Sussex, the 35-room mansion overlooking Ottawa. They took over the attic, basement and crawl spaces. Decomposing carcasses filled the walls of the decrepit building.Now, prime minister Mark Carney has announced a competition for the country’s leading architecture firms to revive the storied building “to a…