Madonna has said she and Sir Elton John have “buried the hatchet” and put an end to their decades-long feud.

Sir Elton, 78, has repeatedly accused Madonna of lip syncing over the years, prompting Madonna’s team – back in 2004 – to respond that she did not “spend her time trashing other artists”.

The music legends reconciled over the weekend after Madonna went to “confront” Sir Elton following his performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), she wrote on Instagram.

“The first thing out of his mouth was ‘forgive me’, and the wall between us fell down,” she added.

The Vogue singer, 66, said she had been a fan of Sir Elton since she was a teenager.

“Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life,” the post read.

“Over the decades it hurt me to know that someone I admired so much shared his dislike of me publicly as an artist. I didn’t understand it.”

The strain on the pair’s relationship has its roots in the noughties.

In 2004, Sir Elton ridiculed Madonna’s nomination in the Best Live Act category at the Q Awards, using explicit language.

He asked: “Since when has lip syncing been live?”

“Anyone who lip syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot,” he continued.

Madonna’s team denied that she did not sing live.

Sir Elton doubled down on his criticism in the years that followed, and in 2012 said Madonna didn’t stand a “chance” of beating him to the Golden Globe for best original song.

After picking up the award for her song Masterpiece, Madonna told reporters she hoped Sir Elton would “speak to me for the next couple of years”.

“He’s been known to get mad at me.”

In her post on Monday, Madonna suggested the reconciliation may lead to a musical partnership.

“He told me [he] had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate.”

In response, Sir Elton thanked Madonna for “forgiving me and my big mouth”.

The singer added that he was not proud of what he had said over the years, especially considering Madonna’s “ground-breaking work… paving the way for an entire generation of female artists to succeed and be true to themselves”.

“I’m increasingly distressed by all the divisiveness in our world at the moment,” he said in a comment on her Instagram post.

“By pulling together, I’m hopeful that we can make great things happen for those who really need support, and have a lot of fun doing it.”

(BBC News)

US President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a second 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires the hugely popular video app to either sell its US operation or face a ban in the country.

“We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.” The platform is currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Trump’s first extension was granted after he took office in January and was set to expire on Saturday.

The social media platform, which says it has more than 170 million users in the US, must close in the US under a law passed by Congress – unless a buyer is found.

In a statement on Friday, ByteDance said it had been in discussion with the Trump administration, but “an agreement has not been executed”.

“There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” a spokesperson said.

Former US President Joe Biden’s administration had argued that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Congress passed a bipartisan law last year that gave ByteDance six months to sell its controlling stake in TikTok or see the app blocked in the US.

Opponents of a ban have cited freedom of speech as a reason for keeping the platform open.

The new extension comes as the Trump administration tries to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership, and keep the popular app running in the US.

“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

A TikTok deal was reportedly nearly finalised on Wednesday, but fell apart after Trump on the same day announced sweeping global tariffs, including on China.

ByteDance representatives contacted the White House to inform them China would no longer approve the deal unless negotiations on the tariffs could take place, a source familiar with the deal told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The unnamed source said the plan had been for Trump to sign an order initiating a 120-day period for closing the deal, allowing time to finish paperwork and secure financing.

The agreement had won approval from existing investors, new investors, ByteDance, and the US government, but China backed out once Trump imposed the global import taxes, CBS reports.

The Chinese embassy in Washington DC said in a statement that it “opposed practices that violate the basic principles of the market economy”.

Watch: Can young Americans live without TikTok?

China faces a 54% aggregate tariff on goods imported into the US, and has retaliated with 34% in counter tariffs.

Reports suggest several potential buyers for TikTok have cropped up in recent days.

Amazon has put in a last-minute offer to the White House to acquire the platform, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS, though the firm has declined comment.

Several other potential buyers include billionaire Frank McCourt, together with Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit, has said he has joined Mr McCourt’s bid.

Computing giant Microsoft, private equity giant Blackstone, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and search engine Perplexity AI are also reportedly in the running for a stake.

Trump has said his administration was in touch with four separate groups interested in a potential TikTok deal, though he has not named them.

Vice-President JD Vance is spearheading the administration’s effort to find a buyer.

The president has also suggested the US could offer a deal where China agrees to approve a TikTok sale in exchange for relief from US tariffs on Chinese imports.

“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He added that the trade levies are “the most powerful economic tool, and every important to our national security”.

(BBC News)

Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan have been confirmed as part of the all-star line-up who will play members of the Beatles in four major new films about the band.

Normal People and Gladiator II actor Mescal will portray Sir Paul McCartney, while Saltburn star Keoghan will step into Ringo Starr’s shoes.

The acting supergroup will also feature Harris Dickinson, who was most recently seen opposite Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, as John Lennon.

And Joseph Quinn will go from Marvel’s Fantastic Four to the Fab Four, playing George Harrison in the big-screen quadrilogy, which will be directed by Sir Sam Mendes.

The Oscar-winning director was joined by the four actors for the announcement at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas on Monday.

Each film will focus on a different member of the legendary group.

“Each one is told from the particular perspective of just one of the guys,” Sir Sam told the event. “They intersect in different ways – sometimes overlapping, sometimes not.

“They’re four very different human beings. Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply. But together, all four films will tell the story of the greatest band in history.”

The films will be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.

The director explained: “I just felt the story of the band was too huge to fit into a single movie, and that turning it into a TV mini-series just somehow didn’t feel right.”

(BBC News)