diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index f7137653..1314288a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+45.beta
+=======
+* Port extensions to ESM [Florian; !259, !266, !268, !269]
+* Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Florian; !260, !261, !262, !263, !264]
+
+Contributors:
+  Florian Müllner
+
+Translators:
+  Efstathios Iosifidis [el]
+
 45.alpha
 ========
 * window-list: Modernize default styling [Alexander; !253]
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 37c3f0fd..00820b4e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('gnome-shell-extensions',
-  version: '45.alpha',
+  version: '45.beta',
   meson_version: '>= 0.58.0',
   license: 'GPL2+'
 )