Six months ago, Samba made a brave, unprecedented escape from Marwell zoo. Her life on the lam continues today. We join the team hunting desperately to find her in the Hampshire countryside

Samba the capybara is still at large. Along with her older sister, Tango, the intrepid rodent made her escape from Marwell zoo in Winchester in March. Tango all but gave herself up on day two; Samba broke for the marshy wetlands of the River Itchen. Word spread and within days the fugitive was an international social media star. But despite an intense search, the dense Hampshire countryside has afforded her a haven. Six months on, Samba remains elusive.

Marwell’s staff still aren’t sure how the capybaras escaped, although they have their suspicions. Tango and Samba were born on Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park in Suffolk in the summer of 2025. They arrived at Marwell zoo on Monday 16 March, to great excitement. “They were a little bit shy when they got here, as you would expect,” says Laura Read, the chief executive of Marwell Wildlife. “But they were fine.” They were immediately placed in a quarantined habitat, as is standard procedure for new arrivals. The plan was to keep them there for 30 days.

At receptions at Labour conference, Burnham played a series of regionally specific tracks – but did he hit the right notes?

Freshly minted as prime minister, Andy Burnham has been holding a series of reception events at Labour conference – soundtracked with regionally specific songs.

Swedish-American actor exhumed for bizarre, humourless 99 seconds that give us another reason to resent AI

Poor Greta Garbo.

Perhaps, in life, she thought her final indignity would be the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore TV sketch from 1970, showing Pete as the legendary recluse standing on the back of a flatbed truck as it rumbles through the crowded city streets, shouting at everyone through a megaphone: “I vant to be alone!”

Despite the risks, a number of soldiers from the country seen as Russia’s biggest backer have found their way to Ukraine

On the makeshift workbench in the cramped front room of a cottage near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, there are all the accoutrements of a drone workshop. The walls are lined with pliers and rolls of duct tape; the table is cluttered with screwdrivers and piles of wire. Propped up against the wall are two kamikaze drones. Only one item looks out of place in this Ukrainian village house: a pot of Chinese longjing tea, the leaves wilted from repeated top-ups.

Good tea is one of the many things that Tim misses about his life in China. His parents post monthly supplies to Ukraine. “I think about all of it,” the 44-year-old said, of his home country. “It brings back memories and emotions.”

The musical powerhouse has spawned huge hits, but which do its troupers love to belt out – even for the 1,700th time? From Broadway legend Idina Menzel to composer Stephen Schwartz, they reveal all

Idina Menzel originated the role of Elphaba, the witch of the west who turns out not to be so wicked (but still very green). She won a Tony on Broadway, starred in the West End run and made a cheeky cameo in the recent film version

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
James Graham’s high-wire writing brings economic theory to life and connects it with art and fulfilment in this polished, ravishingly staged story of John Maynard Keynes

Not everyone will know that the Bloomsbury group had a jobbing economist among them. One with superstar status and a firm belief in capitalism. John Maynard Keynes (Rory Kinnear) may not have cut a very bohemian picture in his three-piece suit but the foremost thinker of economic policy in 20th century Britain was also a card-carrying art lover, avant-gardist and bisexual who had affairs with Lytton Strachey and Duncan Grant, hanging out with the gang at their nerve-centre in Charleston.

He is played with equal amounts of old-school reserve, and charm, by Kinnear, as state-of-the-nation writer, James Graham, audaciously brings economic theory to the West End. The high-wire act of the subject matter is leavened by Graham’s remarkable facility to balance British social history and complex political ideas with speed, sparkle and a humorous lightness of touch.

The PM says all ‘the options’ being considered and calls for an open debate about the UK’s future relationship with Europe

• Burnham: UK could ‘go all the way’ by rejoining EU

• Burnham wants to review the UK’s relationship with the EU. What are the options?

• Key takeaways from Andy Burnham’s conference speech

Andy Burnham has suggested that it would not be legitimate for a party to form a majority government with less than 30% of the vote.

In his Today interview, asked why he wanted electoral reform and a move towards proportional representation, Burnham replied:

I found it better being elected under a different system as mayor of Greater Manchester, where people had one or two, they could put that on the ballot paper.

Because you had a reason to stop on every doorstep and chat to people who might not always support your party and try and get their second preference.

No, it could happen with any political party. It’s whether that would be a legitimate government.

I think you’ve got it completely wrong really, if you don’t mind me saying, to put it like that, because I have put out … a vision for a national care service.

There are pensioners out there who watch your programme who are paying for care costs from their basic state pension. Now, is that right or fair?

Man dialled 999 before he and four others were arrested near military base in Gloucestershire, it has emerged

One of the five men arrested near RAF Fairford as part of a terror investigation that prompted fears of an Iran-backed plot called the police to report the incident, it has emerged.

The call from the man, in his 20s and from London, was one reason armed police were scrambled to arrest the men, who were with three vans close to the military base used by the US in its attacks on Iran.

Israeli media say incident, which raised fears of possible hijacking, stemmed from feud between plane’s two pilots

A commercial plane travelling from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Israel has been forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, briefly raising concerns about a possible hijacking and prompting Israel to scramble warplanes.

Israeli media, citing security officials, said the incident on Wednesday stemmed from a feud between the plane’s two pilots, and everyone onboard was safe. The plane landed in Tabuk, a civilian and military base in the kingdom.

Exclusive: Culture secretary says UK will crack down further and be ‘pioneer of tech as a force for good’

Lisa Nandy has warned technology firms that the government’s online safety crackdown is not finished, saying that banning under-16s from social media platforms is only a “staging post”.

Earlier this year the government announced that teenagers under the age of 16 would be banned from accessing “high-risk” social media apps, while safer platforms would be subjected to restrictions.