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AN invitation to Knebworth House was never a humdrum affair. Fellow guests might include the Rolling Stones , Led Zeppelin , Queen or Oasis, whose sell-out concerts in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties saw the place immortalised as the stately home of rock 'n' roll. Even so, there were some strict rules for overnight stays. 'It didn't matter who you might be sharing the bed with, you had to be out of your room by 10am because that's when the velvet rope was back in place and the paying public were let in,' recalls one regular visitor.

Just hours after Taylor Swift's fans shelled out for her new album The Tortured Poets Department, the star sparked a social media frenzy by dropping 15 more tracks. Despite already splashing out for multiple versions of the record in a bid to get their hands on all four bonus tracks, fans will have to part with even more hard-earned cash when the super-sized record goes on sale. After releasing her new album at midnight ET (2am UK time), Taylor took to Instagram to announce her latest record was actually a surprise 'double album,' after sparking a flurry of speculation by posting a countdown clock on social media.

The singer, 34, has officially dropped The Tortured Poets Department - her 11th studio album. And fans are convinced one of the 31 tracks - thaK you aIMee - is aimed at Kim, as the letter K,I and M are capped up to spell out her name. Taylor sings in one line: 'There's a bronze spray-tanned statue of you and a plaque underneath it/That threatens to push me down the stairs, at our school.'

Yes it's that time of year when some women's thoughts turn to white jeans and others' . . . definitely do not. If you're a female celebrity -almost any female celebrity but chief among the white jeans ­fanclub are Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Katie Holmes, Sienna Miller and, lest you should suspect that white jeans are something you put away in your fifties, Cindy Crawford and Tilda Swinton - then you've already hunted out your white jeans. You were wearing them the first hot weekend in April (there is extra kudos in going early) and you've been making the most of the white jeans and a camel/navy polo neck sweater look.

Israel has conducted strikes on a target in Iran, defying President Joe Biden's warnings over plunging the Middle East further into conflict. US officials confirmed strikes hit a site in Iran, however it is unclear what exact target was hit or the extent of the damage. Officials say the city of Isfahan in central Iran was struck at 5am local time. The city hosts one of Iran's nuclear facilities, although US military sources reportedly said the target was not believed to be nuclear. Iranian news outlet FARS reported that the strikes were located 'near Isfahan Airport and the eighth hunting base of the Army Air Force.' IRNA, the Iranian state news outlet, said the nation's air defense systems had been activated, but 'so far, no large-scale strikes or explosions by any air threat have been reported.' No official comment has been released by either Israel, Iran or the US. 

The city of Isfahan in central Iran was struck at 5am local time, with Israeli drones reported to have targeted an Air Force base which long has been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats - purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Isfahan is also a known hotbed for Iran's nuclear research and houses drone production plants - but the attack is thought to have caused little material damage, and no casualties have been reported. Iranian officials sought to downplay any significant damage to its military facilities and outright denied any nuclear plants were destroyed, while Iranian state TV this morning released footage of an undisturbed Isfahan to cast doubt on reports the city had been hit. Dr Andreas Krieg, an expert on Middle Eastern security and Senior Lecturer School of Security Studies at King's College London, told MailOnline that such a limited strike could be seen as an effort by Tel Aviv to climb down from a major kinetic conflict.

This is the shocking moment a £228mn Russian nuclear bomber hurtled to the ground on fire over Russia after being struck by a Ukrainian missile this morning. Video showed the abrupt descent of one of Putin's Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, pluming smoke before crashing over the Stavropol region in southern Russia. The Ukrainian military claimed responsibility for the crash, claiming in a statement to have knocked the plane out of the air with anti-aircraft missiles.

David Beckham reportedly whisked wife Victoria (inset, stock image) away to the South of France on a private jet to celebrate her 50th birthday. The fashion designer and the retired footballer, 48, then took a chaffeur-driven car to £200-a-head restaurant in Saint-Paul de Vence on the French Riviera, believed to be the famous La Colombe d'Or (left). The couple were said to be joined by their four children along with Victoria's parents Jackie and Tony and were later flown back to Luton Airport. La Colombe d'Or is a favourite of the Beckhams, having visited there in the past for romantic dinner (right, in 2003). It is steeped in history as a restaurant where impoverished artists used to give paintings for food. The works of Yves Klein, Leger, Picasso and Cezanne, worth millions, still adorn the walls. After her private family dinner, Victoria is looking forward to her 50th birthday bash at a private members' club in London on Saturday.

At Starbucks, the price of a large latte is £5.20 when ordered for collection on Uber Eats in London, while Queens of Mayfair, in one of the British capital's swankiest postcodes, charges an eye-watering £13 for its latte. Danish juice and coffee brand Joe & the Juice, which has more than 50 branches in London alone, and outlets across the UK including Liverpool, Brighton , Birmingham and Oxford, currently charges £4.70 for a large (16oz) latte with regular milk. Add in a syrup, say vanilla, and you'll get charged an additional 50 pence, although unlike many other outlets, you won't be charged extra for an additional milk. It comes after it emerged that Britain's most expensive coffee using topica beans shipped in from Japan 's 'island of eternal youth' is being sold for a whopping £265 a cup.

Suri Cruise looked like the spitting image of her mom Katie Holmes from her Dawson's Creek days as she stepped out in New York City on her 18th birthday. Holmes, 45, famously played the role of Joey Potter on the hit teen drama on The WB for six seasons from 1998 to 2003. Suri - whose estranged father is busy shooting the Mission Impossible sequel 3,500 miles away in Britain - rocked Potter's iconic red-brown lip that was made popular in the 1990s.

Jason Kelce has admitted he was wrong to describe the Welsh as 'posh, rich, upper class, beautiful white people' on his New Heights podcast with brother Travis. The brothers were this week discussing the move by Travis' Kansas City Chiefs to sign the former Wales rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit, who has switched sports and joined the Super Bowl winners. The NFL stars both praised Rees-Zammit for his bravery in making the move, with the older Kelce brother saying: 'When I think of Welsh, I think British people call it 'posh'. I think of these rich, upper class, just beautiful white people. He is the running stereotype of what I would think of with a Welsh person. 

Kim Kardashian took to Instagram on Thursday to mark her sister Kourtney's 45h birthday with a bikini snap that left fans divided. The SKIMS mogul, 43, shared a photo of her with Kourtney and younger sister Khloe, 39, as they splashed in the ocean wearing matching black bikinis (centre with caption left inset), taken on their recent getaway to Turks and Caicos. The snap caused a stir, with many claiming Kim intentionally picked a photo in which she looked the best (top right), while many others praised Kourtney's postpartum figure, calling her the most 'natural looking' of the sisters. 

NEW Fitness studio owner Rachel Woolford has become Lord Alan Sugar's latest business partner after winning this year's series of The Apprentice - but her head for business goes back several years. The fitness entrepreneur, 28, who launched her boutique gym business North Studio during Covid, went head-to-head with fellow finalist Phil Turner to secure Lord Sugar 's £250,000 investment and form a partnership with the business mogul. After she was declared the winner during Thursday's finale, she said landing the investment was 'something beyond my wildest dreams'.

Jamie Philips, Connor Humpage, Kevin Rooney, and Alex Lacey (from L to R) took an innocent group photo on a night out in Birmingham in 2019 (left), wearing tight denim jeans and standing side-by-side. In an unprecedented turn of events, the image quickly became an internet sensation, with viewers branding the 'lads' and their outfits as stereotypically British. And now they've done it again after sharing a new image (right) in the same location, but with a modern twist having ditched their tight clothing for baggy jeans and cargo pants.

Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's cousin, recalled that following the 1936 Abdication - which resulted in her becoming Heiress Presumptive - Princess Elizabeth had prayed hard for a brother. A brother who would have been king. Elizabeth never, had an actual brother  but one man filled this gap in her life and became her best friend, escort, confidant and protector. Patrick, 7th Baron Plunket, had the credentials to be yet another chinless aristocrat in the Royal Household, but, as the art historian Roy Strong recalled: 'he was an immensely beguiling man.'

NEW Speaking on the Mail+'s weekly talk show, the Editor at Large for the Mail on Sunday, Charlotte Griffiths (left), said the Montecito-based Duchess of Sussex, 42, (right) doesn't have many friends. She said the joke that's been 'running all week' is how she was able to send 50 jars of her strawberry jam out to people when her list of pals is brief. Griffiths added that Meghan is famous for 'unfriending her friends', pointing out that there is a verb in Urban Dictionary for the phenomenon.

Freddie Flintoff's teenage son Rocky has stunned fans with his 'uncanny' big-hitting style like the England legend. The 16-year-old batsman smashed three sixes and two fours in his unbeaten half-century for Lancashire's second team against Durham on Thursday. Fans were left rubbing their eyes after watching Flintoff unleash his dad's distinctive short-arm pull shot at Emirates Old Trafford.

By the end of day thee of Donald Trump 's hush money trial, twelve prospective jurors had been seated and sworn in including one woman who described the ex-president as 'selfish.' The jurors had survived a questionnaire, a 30-minute grilling by prosecutors, followed by another 30 minutes of probing by the defense and two jurors from the day before being dismissed. Some potential jurors had their social media posts scrutinized or been glared at by the former commander-in-chief. Others were pressed over whether they could truly remain impartial.

An impressive 1,475 statues have filled the landscape beside a D-Day memorial overlooking France 's Golden Beach in honour of each of the servicemen who fell during the historic mission. The Standing with Giants silhouettes are part of the For Your Tomorrow installation at the British Normandy Memorial, in Ver-Sur-Mer, France. In a stunning nod to the servicemen who fell on D-Day itself, almost 80 years ago, the fields within the British Normandy Memorial campus have been filled with two-metre-tall statues of soldiers - representing the three military services. Alongside the 1,475 silhouettes, the project will also install bespoke 'giants' to represent the only two women on the Memorial, nurses Sisters Evershed and Field. The two heroic women died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship.

Dubai is making a sluggish return to normality as planes gradually begin to hit runways again, but cars have remained stranded in deep waters as the city struggles to get to grips with the recent flooding crisis. This week's devastating flash floods, which have now killed 20 people in Oman and one in the UAE, plunged Dubai into a living nightmare as shops and buildings were crushed to ruins and vehicles were forced to be abandoned as they became submerged in murky waters. Emirates, Dubai's state-owned flagship airline, and sister carrier flydubai resumed check-ins after telling passengers to stay away on Wednesday, when thousands of delayed passengers clogged the airport. Authorities at Dubai International Airport, which handles more international passengers than any other, said on Thursday that they had started receiving inbound flights at Terminal 1, used by foreign carriers, but that outbound flights continued to be delayed. They later announced that check-in was open at Terminal 3 for Emirates and flydubai flights.

Horrified locals have slammed the owners of a Victorian gothic house in the country after the owners demolished it to make way for a newbuild that has been dubbed 'the entrance to a bus station'. The red-brick family home just four miles outside the historic market town of Bury St Edmunds has been razed to the ground by its owners leaving locals shocked. Social media users have slammed the homeowner for demolishing the eight-bedroom house, calling it 'a crime'. People took to X, formerly Twitter , to complain that the heritage property had been replaced with a home that looks like 'a small municipal crematorium'. Locals and members of historical preservation societies have also criticised the council for granting planning permission and called the decision 'disappointing'.

The 68-year-old man whose corpse was wheeled into a bank by his niece trying to get a loan was malnourished and may have been poisoned, officials said. Rio de Janeiro police arrested Érika de Souza, 42, on Tuesday after she visited the bank with Braga's corpse in an attempt to take out a loan for 17,000 reais ($3,250) and tried to get him to sign for it. An autopsy, obtained by Brazilian news outlet Metrópoles on Wednesday, showed that Paulo Braga's death was caused by 'bronchoaspiration and heart failure.'

Six people in Buncombe County pulled the three bear cubs out of a tree near Berrington Village Apartments on Tuesday. Video shows the group carelessly grabbing the cubs out of the tree to pose for photos with them. At one point, one of the women dropped a cub as she was passing it to another person to take selfies with. Ashley Hobbs, a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission special projects biologist, was called to the scene and said she found one of the cubs cold and alone. 'We do think that the bear probably had a pretty traumatic experience,' Hobbs said.