News Round-Up

• “Trump sends military to open Strait of Hormuz by force” – Trump has deployed a marine unit capable of putting boots on the ground to secure the key shipping route, reports the Telegraph.
• “‘Comatose’ Mojtaba Khamenei ‘is unaware there is a war on and has no idea he is supreme leader’, report says – despite regime issuing his ‘first statement’” – Iran’s reported Supreme Leader is said to be in a coma at a Tehran hospital following an airstrike, with a source inside the country casting doubt on the regime’s claim that he remains in control, says the Mail.
• “What will it take for the West to fight the enemy within?” – The Temple Israel synagogue in Detroit has been targeted by a gunman driving a truck packed with explosives, prompting urgent debate about whether Western governments are willing to confront the threat from within their own borders, according to the Telegraph.
• “Meme warfare rages online, but Britain is still on the sidelines” – The US has been posting videos spliced with footage from the Middle East conflict while Iran has struck back with Pixar and Lego parodies, yet Britain has so far declined to join the information war, writes Tom Whipple in the Times.
• “Trump ‘risks helping Putin’s war machine’ by lifting Russian sanctions” – The decision to lift sanctions until April 11th has raised fears that it could help salvage the Russian war economy four years after Moscow launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine, reports the Telegraph.
• “Punish bosses who let civil servants celebrate Iran’s Islamic revolution, say Tories” – Senior Conservative politicians are demanding officials who authorised FCDO civil servants to celebrate Iranian independence day should face consequences, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Charity behind pro-Iran ‘hate march’ received £450k taxpayer funding” – The Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust received Gift Aid despite being under investigation by the Charity Commission for its role in organising pro-Iranian demonstrations, according to the Telegraph.
• “Congress could sink Chagos deal under new powers” – A Republican senator has proposed legislation giving Washington an effective veto over the transfer of the Chagos archipelago, threatening to torpedo the deal the British Government struck with Mauritius, says the Telegraph.
• “Mandelson was vetted by disgraced friend” – Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador was signed off by a Downing St spin doctor and one of his close friends who campaigned for a convicted child sex offender, according to the Telegraph.
• “PM ‘didn’t speak to Mandelson personally’ before making him US envoy” – Keir Starmer left aides to question Mandelson about his long-standing ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein rather than raising the matter himself, reports the Mail.
• “PM ‘has told lie after lie after lie’, says Kemi as she questions how Starmer can ‘look himself in the mirror’” – Kemi Badenoch has accused the Prime Minister of lying about Peter Mandelson’s appointment amid growing claims of a cover-up inside Downing Street, says the Mail.
• “Why isn’t there a single message from Mandy’s chief cheerleader? Because they’re on McSweeney’s private email and WhatsApp… the cover-up has begun” – The absence of any digital trail between Mandelson’s allies and Morgan McSweeney has become the defining clue in the scandal surrounding the ambassador’s appointment, writes Dan Hodges in the Mail.
• “Starmer is powerless to stop Polanski’s savage Green army” – Labour’s failure to confront the extremist nature of its Left-wing has left the party defenceless against the Greens, who continue to attract its most radical defectors, notes the Telegraph.
• “‘Starmer has cheek to cite national interest while trying to make us EU gimp’” – John Longworth says in the Express that the Government is betraying the mandate delivered by voters in the 2016 referendum, reports the Express.
• “Labour could lose 1,700 councillors in May local elections bloodbath” – An AI-driven model has projected that Labour is set to retain fewer than a quarter of the seats it’s defending in May, relinquishing control of 49 councils as Reform surges, reveals the Mail.
• “The case for English independence is growing stronger” – Scottish MPs have voted to curtail jury trials in England while English MPs have no equivalent power over Scottish legal affairs, fuelling demands for a dedicated English parliament, writes Clive Aslett in the Telegraph.
• “In the push to be nicer to Muslims, Britain is walking into a trap” – The Government’s proposed definition of hostility to Islam is so vague it risks stifling all legitimate debate about the religion, says Charles Moore in the Telegraph.
• “Sarah Vine: Labour’s bid to define Islamophobia threatens free speech” – Speaking to Peter Hitchens on the Mail podcast, Sarah Vine argues that the adoption of the term ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ is a cynical political move designed to shore up Labour’s dwindling support among Muslim voters.
• “Muslim pupils ‘should be spared detention during Ramadan’” – A Labour council has advised teachers to avoid giving detentions to Muslim students during Ramadan, reports the Telegraph.
• “Violent asylum seeker flees court during trial” – A Jordanian man accused of violent assault has absconded after failing to return to the dock following the lunch break, becoming a fugitive while his trial was still ongoing, notes the Telegraph.
• “Afghan migrant grabbed teenager off the street and raped her a week after sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s” – Najeebullah Arab, 39, has pleaded guilty to kidnap, rape and two counts of sexual assault at Oxford Crown Court, in a case that has reignited scrutiny of how asylum seekers with criminal records are managed, reports the Mail.
• “Miliband warned businesses face surging energy bills within weeks” – Labour is under pressure to scrap its fuel levy as energy prices jump in the wake of the Iran conflict, claims the Telegraph.
• “Labour Together calls for income tax rise to fund energy bailout” – A scandal-hit, Labour-aligned think tank has called for a temporary cap on benefits and minimum wage rises, a suspension of the triple lock, and an income tax rise of 2p in the pound to fund relief on soaring energy bills, says the Mail.
• “Britain’s energy security – what the Iran war reveals and the lessons that should be learned” – Iran’s disruption of LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz has exposed the threadbare state of Britain’s energy defences, revealing how decades of ideologically driven Net Zero policy have left the country dangerously reliant on foreign gas supplies, reveals Dieter Helm on dieterhelm.co.uk.
• “Net Zero is destroying Britain’s car industry” – The government’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate has put the UK car industry in “deep jeopardy”, writes Ross Clark in the Spectator.
• “Green council destroys thousands of flowers planted by volunteers” – Volunteers have been left furious after the bulbs they planted were mown over by Bristol City council, reports the Telegraph.
• “Zack Polanski doubles-down on claim he can grow women’s breasts using hypnosis” – Listen to a clip of Zack Polanski in 2013 telling a BBC journalist that he really can enlarge a woman’s breasts through hypnosis.

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