Sir Tony Blair has called for a major rethink of net-zero policies, arguing that limiting energy consumption and fossil fuel production is "doomed to fail".

In a new report, the former Labour prime minister says voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal".

He does not call for Labour to halt its push to decarbonise the UK economy - but says all governments need to rethink their approach, as it is not working.

The Tories - who have joined Reform UK in opposing net-zero emissions by 2050 - urged Labour to end the "mad dash" to this goal - but Downing Street said it would not be changing course.

In its report The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change, The Tony Blair Institute argues that global institutions such as COP and the UN have failed to make sufficient progress in halting climate change.

At the same time, it argues, the public have lost faith in climate policies because the promised green jobs and economic growth have failed to materialise, thanks in part to global instability and the Covid pandemic.

Writing in the foreword, Sir Tony says: "Though most people will accept that climate change is a reality caused by human activity, they're turning away from the politics of the issue because they believe the proposed solutions are not founded on good policy."

He says "any strategy based on either 'phasing out' fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail".

He also warns against the "alarmist" tone of the debate on climate change, which he says is "riven with irrationality".

The report calls for the rapid deployment of carbon capture and storage technology, greater use of AI to make energy grids efficient and investment in small scale nuclear reactors.

It also argues for a greater focus on climate change mitigation measures such as flood defences and a new international push to persuade China and India to cut emissions.

Downing Street said it would not be changing course on net zero - and rejected Sir Tony's suggestions that the public was no longer prepared to make sacrifices to meet green goals.

"We will reach net zero in a way that treads lightly on people's lives, not telling them how to live or behave," said the prime minister's official spokesman.

"Net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century, one that has the potential to reignite our industrial heartlands, create good jobs for the future and lower bills in the long term."

The government claims its net-zero strategy is already delivering results, with £43bn of private investment since last July and that its climate policies "now support around 600,000 jobs across the UK".

Labour sources are also pushing back against the idea that Sir Keir Starmer is going cold on the net-zero agenda, pointing to a speech he made last week in which he said the clean energy mission was "in the DNA of my government".

Reacting in the Commons to Sir Tony's comments in the report, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he agreed "with a lot of what it says" particularly on carbon capture and storage and AI "which the government are doing".

But Labour's opponents were quick to seize on the former prime minister's words.

Writing on social media, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Even Tony Blair now says the push for Net Zero has become 'irrational' and 'hysterical'. We are winning the argument!"

Conservative acting shadow energy secretary, Andrew Bowie said the government needed to "urgently change course".

"It seems even Tony Blair has come to the realisation that Keir Starmer and the Labour Party's mad dash to net zero by 2050 is simply not feasible, or sustainable," he added.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: "Blair is wrong, both morally and pragmatically. The British public understands the need for decisive climate action and expects politicians to lead in delivering this action."

Sir Tony's intervention has also been met with dismay by Labour-supporting environmental groups.

One campaigner told the BBC: "This is an oddly public and oddly-timed intervention that would usually be made by someone struggling for access.

"The Labour government are getting on with many of the policies outlined in the report because they know this is popular with people, especially the voting coalition they need to maintain for the next election.

"But adopting the anti-net-zero framing of [Tory leader Kemi] Badenoch and Reform is out of step with where the public are on this issue and will not help Labour."

The Liberal Democrats have been contacted for a response.

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Several people have died after a shooting at a hair salon in the town of Uppsala, Swedish media have reported.

Police said they have received calls from members of the public who reported that they heard loud bangs that sounded like gunfire close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city.

The shooting happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets.

Several people were found with injuries that suggested gunshot wounds, police said.

Officers have cordoned off a large area and an investigation is underway.

Police spokesman Magnus Jansson Klarin was quoted by local media saying they received several reports of bangs in the area.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT said it spoke to a number of witnesses at the scene who told them they heard shots fired.

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Temperatures could reach 29C (82F) this week, after the warmest day of the year so far was recorded on Monday.

The 24.5C recorded at St James's Park in London will likely be exceeded over the coming days, with the UK expected to see its warmest start to May on record.

Temperatures are expected to peak on Thursday as voters head to the polls for local elections in England, with high UV and pollen levels also likely.

The weather will gradually cool over the bank holiday weekend, although it will stay dry and sunny for most.

Temperatures will widely be in the low to mid-twenties on Wednesday, with the hottest weather likely around the London area at 27C.

The last time this temperature was recorded in April was in 2018 in Cambridge.

On Thursday, it will get slightly cooler across Scotland and Northern Ireland, as temperatures drop to 13-16C.

But in the south, the heat will continue to build and likely result in the UK's warmest start to May on record at 29C.

This exceeds the previous 1 May record of 27.4C at Lossiemouth in 1990.

With increasing humidity on Thursday, there is also a risk of some heavy and possibly thundery showers breaking out across England and Wales.

Temperatures will gradually fall over the long weekend. However, it will stay dry in most areas, with lengthy sunny spells and light winds.

Northern Scotland and eastern parts of the UK are expected to see the cloudiest weather, especially on Sunday.

By Monday, temperatures will drop to between 12C and 17C across the UK - looking more like the average for early May.

Is the UK experiencing a heatwave?

It is not likely that this spell of warm weather will qualify as a heatwave.

This would need at least three consecutive days at or above the "heatwave threshold," which varies depending on where you are in the UK.

It is not unusual to see this type of hot spell in the spring, and April can bring big swings in temperature.

But as our climate continues to warm, this type of spring heat is expected occur more often. Recent analysis found that spring is the fastest-warming season in the UK.

Meanwhile, UV levels across most parts of the UK are expected to be high, except for northern Scotland where they will be moderate.

Some UV radiation is crucial for our wellbeing, enabling our skin to produce essential vitamin D, but too much can be dangerous.

UV radiation promotes skin cancer by damaging DNA in skin cells. Exposure has also been linked to eye problems.

You can also burn just as quickly when it is cloudy, and the sun is as strong this time of year as it is in August.

The NHS recommends spending time in the shade when the sun is strongest, using at least factor 30 sunscreen and reapplying it every two hours, and taking extra care with children.

High temperatures can also affect the body. To stay safe, the UK Health Security Agency recommends drinking plenty of fluids, staying cool indoors, and avoiding exercise during the hottest parts of the day.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country deserves respect from the US and will only enter trade and security talks with President Donald Trump "on our terms".

Speaking exclusively to the BBC as the polls were closing, Carney said he would only visit Washington when there was a "serious discussion to be had" that respected Canada's sovereignty.

Since Trump's re-election to the White House, the US president has repeatedly mentioned making Canada the "51st state" of America, which has infuriated Canadians.

Carney, who secured a historic victory for his Liberal Party in a snap election on Monday, said such a scenario was "never, ever going to happen".

"Frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen with respect to any other [country]... whether it's Panama or Greenland or elsewhere," he added.

However, he said there was a "win-win possibility" for his country if it could secure a deal with the US and also build on trading relationships with the European Union and the UK.

Strained US relations

The US is a big market for Canadian businesses with roughly 75% of Canada's exports heading south.

Canada accounts for a much smaller 17% of US exports.

Canada is also America's largest foreign supplier of crude oil. America's trade deficit with Canada - expected to be $45bn in 2024 - was mostly driven by US energy demands.

Canada and US relations have been strained in recent months, driven by Trump's talk of a "51st state" and referring to previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "governor" - the title for leaders of individual American states.

The US president has also sparked a global trade war in which Canada was one of the first countries targeted with tariffs.

Trump has partially imposed a blanket 25% tariff on various Canadian goods, along with 25% import taxes on all aluminium and steel imports, but has exempted products covered by a US, Canada and Mexico trade deal known as USMCA.

Canada has retaliated with some C$60bn ($42bn; £32bn) worth of tariffs on US goods.

Carney said talks with Trump would be "on our terms, not on their terms".

"There is a partnership to be had, an economic and security partnership," he said.

"It's going to be a very different one than we've had in the past."

Carney has touted his experience handling global economic crises as a way to deal with Trump on tariffs.

Before becoming PM in early March, Carney had never held political office.

He is a banker by trade, leading the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis before becoming the first non-British person to take on the top job at the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.

The PM said Canada was the "biggest client for more than 40 states" in the US.

"Remember that we supply them [the US] with vital energy. Remember that we supply their farmers with basically all their fertiliser," Carney told the BBC.

"We deserve respect. We expect respect and I'm sure we'll get it in due course again, and then we can have these discussions."

Canada and the US, along with Mexico, have deeply integrated economies, with billions of pounds worth of manufactured goods crossing the borders on a daily basis, for example, car parts.

The introduction of tariffs, which are taxes levied on goods as they enter a country and paid for by the importer, threatens decades of collaborations between the nations.

Trump has argued tariffs will encourage more Americans to buy domestically-made goods, which will ultimately boost US manufacturing and jobs.

Trade with allies being 'put to the test'

While America's main opponent in the global trade conflict is China, the introduction of Trump's blanket, so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on the likes of the UK and other European countries has led to allies seeking fresh agreements in response to barriers to trading with the world's largest economy.

Carney, who endorsed UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the British general election, said "one would think" that Canada and the UK could sign a stalled free trade agreement as part of diversifying trade, but highlighted about 95% of trade between the countries is effectively tariff-free already.

"We could expand the level of integration between our countries, like-minded countries. You think about defence partnerships, and those conversations have just just begun, so there's a lot that we can do," he added.

In a statement congratulating Carney, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "I know we will continue to work closely on defence, security, trade and investment."

Carney said the G7 summit hosted by Canada in June would be "very important" in deciding the future path of the global trade war, adding it would "put to the test" whether the group of the world's seven most advanced economies - which includes the US - was still the most "like-minded of like-minded countries".

The summit will occur just before the 90-day pause on some of Trump's higher tariffs is set to expire.

The trial has begun of 10 people who are accused of robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint at a Paris hotel in 2016.

The reality TV star and business woman was tied up and held at gunpoint in a luxury suite where she was staying during Paris Fashion Week.

About $10m (£7.5m) worth of jewels were taken from her, including a $4m (£2.9m) diamond engagement from then-husband Kanye West.

In a grand courtroom adorned with 19th Century tapestries, the court was given a fascinating snapshot into the lives of the diverse cast of characters suspected of involvement in the heist.

For the first one up - 71-year-old Yunice Abbas - this was done through a "enquête de personnalité", a sort of background report on a person accused of a crime which French courts regularly include in their trials. These reports take in elements of the defendant's family history, behaviour and work to paint a picture of their lives and help jurors make a decision.

The court heard a long list of crimes that Abbas has been found guilty of in the past - from petty crime and small-time drug trafficking to bank robberies - and retraced his difficult childhood, which was partly spent in Algeria and marked by the deaths of two of his siblings.

The bald, stocky man - who has spent almost a third of his life in jail - has already admitted to his role in the heist, and even wrote a memoir entitled I Held Up Kim Kardashian. The president of the court, David Du Pas, suggested that the book shows Abbas was proud of what he did - something Abbas has repeatedly denied.

When asked if he had any sympathy for his victims, Abbas said that he never did before the Kardashian heist, "but this time I do regret what I did… It opened my eyes."

Abbas said that while watching television in jail, he was confronted with relentless coverage of the burglary, which made him realise how much Kim Kardashian had suffered.

"We just grabbed the lady's handbag but I have discovered there's trauma behind it," he said.

The court also focused on Gary Madar, whose brother's company provided transportation and taxis to the Kardashians for several years. Now 35, the father-of-two has been accused of feeding information to the gang about Kim Kardashian's location on the night of the heist.

At the time, Gary worked as a customer service agent in airports for the transport company. His task was to welcome VIPs arriving at Paris airports and escort them through passport and customs checks. Through this job, he met the Kardashians several times.

But he also worked at a café owned by another defendant, Florus Héroui, 52, to whom investigators believe Madar passed on information about Kim Kardashian.

He has denied this and his lawyer has told the BBC that Madar should not be on the dock as there is "no solid proof" of his involvement.

Marc Boyer, 78, who is accused of supplying the weapon that was used to threaten Kardashian, was also questioned at length. He expressed regret that his son Marc-Alexandre Boyer - also a defendant - had grown up surrounded by "thieves" and "crooks" who had led him to make the wrong life choices.

The rest of the week will see more defendants take the stand as the trial ticks on towards 13 May - the day Kim Kardashian is expected to testify.

The vast majority of the 400 journalists reporting on this trial are expected to flock to the courthouse that day, and court staff are unsure how they will accommodate so many reporters who will want a front seat.

• 'Grandpa robbers' held Kim Kardashian at gunpoint - but didn't know who she was
• Bodyguard sued for $6.1m over Paris robbery

The court will only hear from 10 out of the 12 people who were arrested in 2017, as one died last month, and another, aged 81, will be excused as he has advanced dementia.

Another, Aomar Ait Khedache, will be up on Wednesday - but he is now nearly deaf and mute and will have to write his answers down on a piece of paper.

The trial is taking place eight and a half years after the heist.

Patricia Tourancheau, a crime reporter and author of a book on the robbery, told the BBC that Paris courts were busy with large terrorism trials for several years, which created a backlog.

She also said the long wait had to do with the defendants' age and health issues which meant they spent little time in provisional detention.

"Once they were freed it felt less urgent for judges to bring this to trial," Tourancheau said.

Several people have died after a shooting at a hair salon in the town of Uppsala, Swedish media have reported.

Police said they have received calls from members of the public who reported that they heard loud bangs that sounded like gunfire close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city.

The shooting happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets.

Several people were found with injuries that suggested gunshot wounds, police said.

Officers have cordoned off a large area and an investigation is underway.

Police spokesman Magnus Jansson Klarin was quoted by local media saying they received several reports of bangs in the area.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT said it spoke to a number of witnesses at the scene who told them they heard shots fired.

This is a breaking news story which will be updated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country deserves respect from the US and will only enter trade and security talks with President Donald Trump "on our terms".

Speaking exclusively to the BBC as the polls were closing, Carney said he would only visit Washington when there was a "serious discussion to be had" that respected Canada's sovereignty.

Since Trump's re-election to the White House, the US president has repeatedly mentioned making Canada the "51st state" of America, which has infuriated Canadians.

Carney, who secured a historic victory for his Liberal Party in a snap election on Monday, said such a scenario was "never, ever going to happen".

"Frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen with respect to any other [country]... whether it's Panama or Greenland or elsewhere," he added.

However, he said there was a "win-win possibility" for his country if it could secure a deal with the US and also build on trading relationships with the European Union and the UK.

Strained US relations

The US is a big market for Canadian businesses with roughly 75% of Canada's exports heading south.

Canada accounts for a much smaller 17% of US exports.

Canada is also America's largest foreign supplier of crude oil. America's trade deficit with Canada - expected to be $45bn in 2024 - was mostly driven by US energy demands.

Canada and US relations have been strained in recent months, driven by Trump's talk of a "51st state" and referring to previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "governor" - the title for leaders of individual American states.

The US president has also sparked a global trade war in which Canada was one of the first countries targeted with tariffs.

Trump has partially imposed a blanket 25% tariff on various Canadian goods, along with 25% import taxes on all aluminium and steel imports, but has exempted products covered by a US, Canada and Mexico trade deal known as USMCA.

Canada has retaliated with some C$60bn ($42bn; £32bn) worth of tariffs on US goods.

Carney said talks with Trump would be "on our terms, not on their terms".

"There is a partnership to be had, an economic and security partnership," he said.

"It's going to be a very different one than we've had in the past."

Carney has touted his experience handling global economic crises as a way to deal with Trump on tariffs.

Before becoming PM in early March, Carney had never held political office.

He is a banker by trade, leading the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis before becoming the first non-British person to take on the top job at the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.

The PM said Canada was the "biggest client for more than 40 states" in the US.

"Remember that we supply them [the US] with vital energy. Remember that we supply their farmers with basically all their fertiliser," Carney told the BBC.

"We deserve respect. We expect respect and I'm sure we'll get it in due course again, and then we can have these discussions."

Canada and the US, along with Mexico, have deeply integrated economies, with billions of pounds worth of manufactured goods crossing the borders on a daily basis, for example, car parts.

The introduction of tariffs, which are taxes levied on goods as they enter a country and paid for by the importer, threatens decades of collaborations between the nations.

Trump has argued tariffs will encourage more Americans to buy domestically-made goods, which will ultimately boost US manufacturing and jobs.

Trade with allies being 'put to the test'

While America's main opponent in the global trade conflict is China, the introduction of Trump's blanket, so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on the likes of the UK and other European countries has led to allies seeking fresh agreements in response to barriers to trading with the world's largest economy.

Carney, who endorsed UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the British general election, said "one would think" that Canada and the UK could sign a stalled free trade agreement as part of diversifying trade, but highlighted about 95% of trade between the countries is effectively tariff-free already.

"We could expand the level of integration between our countries, like-minded countries. You think about defence partnerships, and those conversations have just just begun, so there's a lot that we can do," he added.

In a statement congratulating Carney, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "I know we will continue to work closely on defence, security, trade and investment."

Carney said the G7 summit hosted by Canada in June would be "very important" in deciding the future path of the global trade war, adding it would "put to the test" whether the group of the world's seven most advanced economies - which includes the US - was still the most "like-minded of like-minded countries".

The summit will occur just before the 90-day pause on some of Trump's higher tariffs is set to expire.

The White House has hit back against a reported plan by Amazon to detail the price impact of Donald Trump's trade tariffs to its customers, calling it a "hostile" political act.

Amazon told the Washington Post it had looked into itemising the costs for customers using Amazon Haul, a low-cost site it launched in the US last year to compete with Shein and Temu.

But it denied such a move had been under consideration for its primary e-commerce platform.

Still, the White House decision to go on the attack over the report is an indication of the pressure it is facing over its new import taxes, which analysts say will lead to higher prices for consumers and increase the chances of a recession.

At a press conference marking the president's 100 days in office, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she had discussed Amazon's reported move with the president and claimed it represented "another reason why Americans should buy American".

"This is a hostile and political act by Amazon," she said. "Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?"

Trump has ramped up tariffs since re-entering office in January, measures he argues will boost manufacturing and raise tax revenue for the US.

Even after rolling back some of his initial plans this month, Trump's announcements have left many foreign imports facing new duties of at least 10%, while products from China are facing import taxes of at least 145%.

The measures have prompted a sharp drop in trade between the two countries, and has raised fears of supply shocks and product shortages from baby prams to umbrellas, items for which China is a major supplier.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the government's economic record and promised trade talks with many of America's biggest partners were under way.

However, he dodged questions about whether the US was in negotiations with China, the third largest source of imports to the US after the European Union and Mexico last year.

Some businesses are starting to detail the costs of the measures for customers, with Shein and Temu among the online platforms to already announce price hikes.

Merchants from China represent about half of the sellers on Amazon in the US, according to analysts.

Amazon's plan to detail the tariff impact for customers was first reported by Punchbowl News on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source. The company has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who privately owns the Washington Post, met with Trump after the election and has praised his push for deregulation and lower taxes.

Amazon was among the many businesses to donate money to the president's inauguration and Mr Bezos was given a seat of honour at the event.

But the two men have had a tense relationship in the past.

Trump repeatedly criticised Amazon and the Washington Post during his first term, while Mr Bezos in 2016 accused Trump of using rhetoric that "erodes our democracy around the edges" and once joked about blasting him to space in a rocket.

In 2019, Amazon filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, alleging that it had been denied a $10bn contract due to Trump's decision to "pursue his own personal and political ends" to harm Mr Bezos, "his perceived political enemy".

Reporting contributed by Bernd Debussman

The Spanish grid operator has ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of a massive power cut that crippled Spain, Portugal and parts of France on Monday.

Red Eléctrica's operations director Eduardo Prieto said preliminary findings suggest "there was no kind of interference in the control systems" to imply an attack, echoing Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro the day before.

But the exact reason behind the cut is still unclear.

The grid operator said on Tuesday they "cannot draw conclusions" until they get concrete data. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said investigators were trying to pinpoint the cause, and then would take all necessary measures "to ensure that this does not happen again."

Information is trickling out about what happened at the time of the cut, leading to theories about what could have caused it. Experts told the BBC it was likely caused by several failures.

Here is what we know and what questions remain unanswered.

Follow live: Travel chaos continues

Was the power cut caused by renewable energy?

Sánchez on Monday evening said 15GW of power - the equivalent to 60% of demand at that time - was "suddenly lost from the system... in just five seconds".

Mr Prieto said during a news conference on Tuesday that there were two "disconnection events" barely a second apart in the south-west of Spain, where there is substantial solar power generation.

One issue that the Spanish grid operator may have been referring to was when power companies identify a mismatch of supply and demand for electricity that could lead to instability, and disconnect temporarily in order to protect their systems.

However, Sánchez later said the power cut was "not a problem of excessive renewables". He said there was not a failure of coverage - meaning supply - and there was a relatively low demand for electricity that was quite normal in the days running up to the crisis.

So what exactly happened? It is unclear, especially as many systems fail in electricity supply quite frequently, not only renewables, and outages on this scale happen somewhere in the world around once a year on average.

The mismatch between supply and demand of electricity can change the frequency of the electricity grid, which is 50Hz in Europe and the UK.

If that frequency changes out of a narrow range, it could lead to damage to equipment.

"When a big company detects that the frequency is moving out of their tolerance, they can go offline to protect their equipment," said Prof Hannah Christensen at the University of Oxford.

If lots of companies do that in quick succession, it can have "cascading effects" and lead to a black-out, she added.

But when it comes to renewables, operators have very accurate short-term weather forecasts to predict when there will be a surplus of wind of solar power, so they adjust power supply accordingly, Prof Christensen said.

Renewable power has different challenges to fossil fuel energy "because of its intermittency", she said, but it is a well-known issue that is planned for.

"It is a little perplexing that this wouldn't have been predicted," she said.

Prof Keith Bell, at the University of Strathclyde, added that "if a system is relying on solar and wind, they design a system to reflect that," suggesting that the additional supply of energy from renewables will not have been a surprise to the grid.

"Spain has a lot of experience of wind and solar, and a long-standing system of forecasting weather and its impacts," he said.

"All sorts of systems fail," he added. "Things can and do go wrong, whether that is from renewables, fossil fuels or nuclear power. This could be the Swiss cheese model, where the holes in the system have happened to align."

Was it related to Spain's connection to France?

Red Eléctrica also suggested that the drop of power caused a grid interconnection between Spain and France to trip.

Two basic technologies are used to interconnect parts of a grid or countries - a standard transmission line that carries alternating currents, and increasingly, high voltage direct current lines.

Spain has a high voltage line that came into service seven years ago, meaning it is well-tested, Prof Bell said.

The Iberian peninsula is often referred to as an "electricity island" because it relies on just a few connections through the Pyrenees to France, meaning it can be vulnerable to failures.

Sánchez said power was brought back online thanks to connections with France and Morocco as well as gas and hydropower sources.

Was it linked to a 'rare atmospheric event'?

Portugal's grid operator REN refuted initial reports, attributed to the agency on Monday, which said the blackout was caused by a rare atmospheric event.

The message in Portuguese said that "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'".

"These oscillations caused synchronisation failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network."

However, REN spokesman Bruno Silva told AFP on Tuesday that the grid operator "did not put out this statement," without giving further details.

Several people have died after a shooting at a hair salon in the town of Uppsala, Swedish media have reported.

Police said they have received calls from members of the public who reported that they heard loud bangs that sounded like gunfire close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city.

The shooting happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets.

Several people were found with injuries that suggested gunshot wounds, police said.

Officers have cordoned off a large area and an investigation is underway.

Police spokesman Magnus Jansson Klarin was quoted by local media saying they received several reports of bangs in the area.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT said it spoke to a number of witnesses at the scene who told them they heard shots fired.

This is a breaking news story which will be updated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Temperatures could reach 29C (82F) this week, after the warmest day of the year so far was recorded on Monday.

The 24.5C recorded at St James's Park in London will likely be exceeded over the coming days, with the UK expected to see its warmest start to May on record.

Temperatures are expected to peak on Thursday as voters head to the polls for local elections in England, with high UV and pollen levels also likely.

The weather will gradually cool over the bank holiday weekend, although it will stay dry and sunny for most.

Temperatures will widely be in the low to mid-twenties on Wednesday, with the hottest weather likely around the London area at 27C.

The last time this temperature was recorded in April was in 2018 in Cambridge.

On Thursday, it will get slightly cooler across Scotland and Northern Ireland, as temperatures drop to 13-16C.

But in the south, the heat will continue to build and likely result in the UK's warmest start to May on record at 29C.

This exceeds the previous 1 May record of 27.4C at Lossiemouth in 1990.

With increasing humidity on Thursday, there is also a risk of some heavy and possibly thundery showers breaking out across England and Wales.

Temperatures will gradually fall over the long weekend. However, it will stay dry in most areas, with lengthy sunny spells and light winds.

Northern Scotland and eastern parts of the UK are expected to see the cloudiest weather, especially on Sunday.

By Monday, temperatures will drop to between 12C and 17C across the UK - looking more like the average for early May.

Is the UK experiencing a heatwave?

It is not likely that this spell of warm weather will qualify as a heatwave.

This would need at least three consecutive days at or above the "heatwave threshold," which varies depending on where you are in the UK.

It is not unusual to see this type of hot spell in the spring, and April can bring big swings in temperature.

But as our climate continues to warm, this type of spring heat is expected occur more often. Recent analysis found that spring is the fastest-warming season in the UK.

Meanwhile, UV levels across most parts of the UK are expected to be high, except for northern Scotland where they will be moderate.

Some UV radiation is crucial for our wellbeing, enabling our skin to produce essential vitamin D, but too much can be dangerous.

UV radiation promotes skin cancer by damaging DNA in skin cells. Exposure has also been linked to eye problems.

You can also burn just as quickly when it is cloudy, and the sun is as strong this time of year as it is in August.

The NHS recommends spending time in the shade when the sun is strongest, using at least factor 30 sunscreen and reapplying it every two hours, and taking extra care with children.

High temperatures can also affect the body. To stay safe, the UK Health Security Agency recommends drinking plenty of fluids, staying cool indoors, and avoiding exercise during the hottest parts of the day.