Author: BBC

Sir Michael Eavis has made his first appearance at Glastonbury 2024.The 88-year-old co-founder of the festival was met with cheers by a crowd of thousands as he appeared in a wheelchair on the Park Stage at Worthy Farm.Performing a set of just over 20 minutes at around 16:30 BST on Thursday, Sir Michael sang Frank Sinatra hits including Love’s Been Good To Me and It Was A Very Good Year, as well as Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds.His daughter, Emily Eavis, said his voice sounded “better than ever”. Source link

14 hours agoBy Paul Kirby, BBC News, ParisANDRE PAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockNational Rally boss Marine Le Pen hopes Jordan Bardella (R) will be the next French PM (file pic)France’s lightning-quick election campaign is over, and despite last-ditch appeals not to back the far right, voters appear ready to hand the National Rally party a historic victory in parliamentary elections.Prime Minister Gabriel Attal warned it would unleash “impulses of hate and aggression”.But the party of Marine Le Pen and 28-year old Jordan Bardella, who could be the next prime minister, has if anything cemented its lead in the opinion polls.National Rally has fended off a series…

1 day agoBy Jasdeep Bahia, BBC Asian Network • Riyah Collins, BBC NewsbeatGetty ImagesStefflon Don says she’d struggled to be vulnerable enough to release an album until now Stefflon Don’s taken 10 years to release her debut album.But it’s not because the rapper – real name Stephanie Victoria Allen – hasn’t been working.With multiple awards under her belt, including a MOBO for Best Female Act, she’s just been biding her time.”I really wanted to let people have an insight of who Stephanie actually is,” she tells BBC Asian Network.”Being in this game such a long time, there’s this misconception, I feel, of who Steff is.”Steff,…

12 hours agoBy Linda Pressly, BBC NewsBBCJan (70) and Els (71) photographed two days before they diedJan and Els were married for almost five decades. In early June, they died together after being given lethal medication by two doctors. In the Netherlands, this is known as duo-euthanasia. It’s legal, and it’s rare – but every year, more Dutch couples choose to end their lives this way.Some people might find this article upsetting.Three days before they voluntarily take their last breath, Jan and Els’ campervan sits on a sunlit marina in Friesland, in the Netherlands’ north. They’re a couple who love being mobile,…

23 hours agoBy Oprah Flash, BBC News, West MidlandsGeezer Butler joins Foo Fighters on stage for ParanoidFoo Fighters fans were stunned when rock legend Geezer Butler joined the band on stage in Birmingham.The Black Sabbath bassist performed alongside Dave Grohl and the band for a rendition of their 1970s classic hit, Paranoid.The moment rounded off the West Midlands leg of the Fighters’ UK tour on Thursday.Butler, who is from the city, was met with cheering and roars of support when he stepped out on stage at Villa Park Stadium.Bassist Geezer Butler made a return to the stage for a rendition of Black…

10 hours agoBy Aaron Akinyemi & Danai Nesta Kupemba, BBC NewsAFPSome two million people are registered to vote in the electionAs Mauritanians head to the polls in the presidential election, the country faces a multitude of issues including a legacy of military coups, migration, jihadist attacks in neighbouring countries and a harrowing legacy of slavery.President Mohamed ould Cheikh Ghazouani, who has been in power since the country’s first democratic transition in 2019, is seeking a second and final term.Six other candidates are challenging him for the top job.This election is a litmus test of Mauritania’s burgeoning democracy and an indicator of how…

12 hours agoBy Zoya Mateen, BBC NewsGetty ImagesThere is no bigger name in Punjabi music than Diljit DosanjhWho is Diljit Dosanjh?The answer to that question would depend on who you ask.To the uninitiated, Dosanjh is an incredibly popular Punjabi singer who last week made his debut on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. The 40-year-old proudly sits atop what is known as the “Punjabi wave”, a new generation of artists melding homegrown Punjabi music with rap and hip-hop.Introduced by Fallon as “the biggest Punjabi artist on the planet”, Dosanjh – dressed in traditional attire – performed his hits Born to Shine and G.O.A.T…

A Panamanian court has acquitted all 28 people charged with money laundering in connection with the Panama Papers scandal, concluding a trial that began in April.The secret financial documents were leaked in 2016, revealing how some of the world’s richest and most powerful people use tax havens to hide their wealth.Among those exonerated were Jurgen Mossack and the late Ramon Fonseca, founder of Mossack Fonseca, the defunct law firm at the centre of the scandal.Judge Baloisa Marquinez said the evidence considered by the court was “not sufficient” to determine the criminal responsibility of the defendants.During the trial, the prosecution sought…

1 hour agoBy Stuart Maisner, BBC News, South EastSleepless in Settle/Judy FlynnThelma Barlow came out of retirement to make the short film Sleepless in SettleOne of the best-known faces from Coronation Street has come out of retirement at the age of 94 to make a short film in East Sussex.Thelma Barlow, who played iconic character Mavis for 26 years, stars in Sleepless in Settle, which is having its premiere in Rye on Saturday. It was written and directed by actress Judy Flynn who is based in the town.Ms Barlow, who is now 95 and lives in Faversham in Kent, said: “It was…

8 hours agoBy Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent EPAMore than 140 people were killed in an IS attack on a concert hall in Moscow in MarchIt is exactly 10 years since the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group proclaimed its caliphate, announced to the world days later by its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the Nuri Mosque in Mosul. Also known as Isis or Daesh in Arabic, the group took over huge swathes of Syria and Iraq, imposing its severe version of Shariah (Islamic law), meting out cruel punishments and murders, then posting the videos online.For the next five years, IS was able…