Houston Astros pitchers Hunter Brown, Rafael Montero, Héctor Neris and Bryan Abreu have held the Oakland Athletics hitless through eight innings

Striking members of the Writers Guild of America have said they will not picket next month’s Tony Award telecast, clearing a thorny issue facing show organizers and opening the door for some sort of Broadway razzle-dazzle

The biggest explosion ever seen has been spotted in space – and scientists don’t know for sure where it came from. The blast was brighter than almost anything ever seen and has been going on for years, making it by far the most powerful such event witnessed by scientists. It has been ongoing for more than three years, and took place nearly 8 billion years away. Astronomers have proposed a host of possible explanations for the blast: it may be a vast cloud of gas that was torn apart by a black hole, for instance. But nothing on such a scale has ever been seen before and the explosion may have come from something else entirely. It is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova and three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event, where a star falls into a supermassive black hole. The explosion, known as AT2021lwx, took place when the universe was around six billion years old, and is still being detected by a network of telescopes. The astronomers, led by the University of Southampton, believe the explosion is a result of a vast cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our sun, that has been violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole. Fragments of the cloud would be swallowed up, sending shockwaves through its remnants, as well as into a large dusty “doughnut” surrounding the black hole. Such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before, the researchers say. Last year, astronomers witnessed the brightest explosion on record – a gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A. Although this was brighter than AT2021lwx, it lasted for just a fraction of the time, meaning the overall energy released by the AT2021lwx explosion was far greater. AT2021lwx was first detected in 2020 by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, and subsequently picked up by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) based in Hawaii. But until now the scale of the explosion had been unknown. Dr Philip Wiseman, research fellow at the University of Southampton, who led the research, said: “We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova. “Most supernovae and tidal disruption events only last for a couple of months before fading away. For something to be bright for two plus years was immediately very unusual.” The Southampton-led team believe the most feasible explanation for what caused the explosion is an extremely large cloud of gas (mostly hydrogen) or dust that has come off course from its orbit around the black hole and been sent flying in. Dr Wiseman added: “With new facilities, like the Vera Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time, coming online in the next few years, we are hoping to discover more events like this and learn more about them. “It could be that these events, although extremely rare, are so energetic that they are key processes to how the centres of galaxies change over time.” The findings are published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Biggest explosion ever seen spotted in space – and we don’t know what it is Scientists think they have explained a ‘mysterious structure in the universe’ Astronomers spot the largest cosmic explosion ever seen Astronomers spot the largest cosmic explosion ever seen Astronomers see ‘objects that no one has ever seen before’ in incredible observations ‘Meteorite? shooting star? missile?’: Officials explain strange ‘fireball’ over Japan

Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is back in court on Wednesday where a judge will hear arguments on banning cameras from the courtroom in the high-profile trial. Attorneys for both the defence and the prosecution have asked to restrict cameras as the case of the brutal slayings of four University of Idaho students continues to attract national attention. The former criminology PhD student was indicted earlier this year in the November 2022 killings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, at their off-campus house in Moscow. In August, Mr Kohberger’s defence team asked Latah County District Judge John Judge to bar cameras from the courtroom, claiming that the media coverage violated his constitutional rights. Last week, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson responded to the motion with his own concerns and requested the judge remove cameras “at a minimum” during the “sensitive testimony of a number of young and vulnerable witnesses.” Meanwhile, the families of Goncalves and Kernodle released a statement saying that they want to keep cameras in the courtroom as they want the “veil of secrecy” to be lifted from the case. Read More Prosecutors join Bryan Kohberger’s effort to block cameras from Idaho murders trial Bryan Kohberger claims media are ‘focusing on his crotch’ as he demands court camera ban

Irish police say two women are being treated in hospital for serious injuries after a dog attack.

Federal prosecutors are nearing a decision on whether to charge Donald Trump and his associates with crimes related to their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and recently interviewd teh former president’s top attorney for that project as their investigation winds down. Rudy Giuliani spoke to investigators in a voluntary interview in recent weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, and is likely to be among the DoJ’s eventual targets for a criminal indictment if the agency goes forward with a case. According to the Journal, Mr Giuliani spoke among other things about a chaotic December 2020 meeting between the so-called “war room” established at Mr Trump’s now-shuttered DC hotel and the White House legal team, which was revealed throughout the January 6 committee’s investigation to have been firmly opposed from the beginning to the various theories regarding how Mike Pence or others could interfere in the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. The Journal reports that meeting devolved into a “shouting match” as conspiracy monger Sidney Powell and others presented their case — prompting Mr Trump to ask Mr Giuliani, another devotee of those conspiracies, to mediate the discussion. Mr Giuliani’s interview with the DoJ, previously reported by The Independent, was described as a so-called “queen for a day” interview in which a subject of an active investigation can testify to prosecutors about the case and generally receive immunity for whatever criminal acts are described in the session — assuming they are truthful. The former New York City mayor was reported by The Independent last week to be among those that DoJ investigators are considering for potential criminal charges as the agency weighs a decision on whether to file a superceding indictment charging the former president with dozens of crimes related to the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. A source familiar with the situation told The Independent last week that Mr Smith’s office will “most definitely” bring at least a handful of charges against Mr Giuliani for his service on Mr Trump’s legal team in the weeks following the November 2020 election and leading up to the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol. In addition to possible criminal charges, Mr Giuliani previously saw his law license suspended in both Washington DC and New York for false statements he made regarding the 2020 election. Other Trump attorneys like John Eastman have faced similar consequences. The ex-president and his legal team also remain under a separate criminal investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, over their efforts to overturn the lawful election results in that state; a grand jury investigation as part of that case recently concluded and a decision on whether charges will be filed is expected over the summer. Andrew Feinberg contributed to this report Read More What's 'Bidenomics'? The president hopes a dubious nation embraces his ideas condensed into the term Pete Buttigieg takes down Ron DeSantis over ‘strange’ anti-LGBT campaign video with ‘oiled-up bodybuilders’ Melania Trump hawks $50 NFTs to ‘celebrate our great nation’ ahead of July 4 Mike Pence and Liz Truss among VIPs who speak at Iranian dissident rally despite pressure from Tehran Trump’s own words about an indicted president come back to haunt him Ex-Trump spokesperson claims she saw him show off documents on Mar-a-Lago dining patio

'90 Days Fiance' star Angela Deem called out the person who trolled her, but unfortunately, it backfired on her

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The foreign minister of Belarus says he can't envision a situation where his country would enter the war in Ukraine alongside Russian forces

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened her investigation into Donald Trump after the release of a recording of a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt has met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks that focused on elevating ties between the two counties

By Charlie Devereux MADRID (Reuters) -Global temperatures headed towards alarming highs and extreme weather proliferated as the world's two biggest