News Round-Up

• “Trump warns of ‘bigger and stronger’ strikes on Iran unless a ‘real agreement’ is reached” – President Trump has threatened to escalate military action against Iran dramatically if peace talks collapse, reports the Mail.
• “A ‘Tehran toll-booth’ in the Strait of Hormuz would be the end of international law” – Iran’s ambition to charge for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a potentially catastrophic challenge to the global rules-based order, says the Telegraph.
• “Four migrants die in Channel crossing attempt – as France rejects Britain’s offer to intercept and return small boats” – A vessel packed with dozens of migrants has capsized off the coast of Boulogne, killing four, as France’s refusal to allow interception and return threatens to deepen the diplomatic impasse, according to the Mail.
• “Britain condemns Israeli strikes on Lebanon in split from Trump” – The Government has broken ranks with Washington by warning that Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon are “deeply damaging” and risk undermining the ceasefire, says the Telegraph.
• “Russia ran secret submarine operation in British waters” – Russia has conducted a covert submarine operation targeting vital energy and data cables in British waters, reports the Telegraph.
• “Nottingham University Economics student was stabbed in the hand and back as he desperately tried to stop his friend being knifed to death on Primrose Hill” – A 21-year-old videographer has been killed at a popular north London beauty spot, with his friend – who was stabbed multiple times trying to protect him – now confirmed as a Nottingham University student, reveals the Mail.
• “Nigerian migrant who twice failed his driving test killed pensioner in crash after exploiting learner loophole, inquest hears” – A migrant with a provisional licence killed a 70 year-old woman at a rural Yorkshire junction after exploiting a loophole that allows learner drivers on public roads unsupervised, says the Mail.
• “Schoolgirls given rape alarms amid fears hotel migrants are stalking them” – Teenage girls in Dumfries have been given rape alarms after parents reported that asylum seekers housed at a local hotel have been “leering” at them, leaving children too frightened to walk the streets, reports the Scottish Daily Express.
• “Reform will not surrender to the Whitehall machine” – Labour has issued what amounts to an unconditional surrender to the permanent bureaucracy, handing civil servants effective control over Government policy and leaving Reform as the only party pledging to resist Whitehall dominance, writes Danny Kruger in the Telegraph.
• “Labour appoints former Channel 4 chief as Ofcom Chairman” – The Government has named Sir Ian Cheshire as its preferred candidate to lead Ofcom in a move that tightens Labour’s grip on the regulator, reports the Telegraph.
• “Keir Starmer was warned about Post Office prosecution practices as Director of Public Prosecutions” – A Horizon scandal victim wrote to Sir Keir in 2011 to alert him to the Post Office’s controversial prosecution methods, raising fresh questions about what the Prime Minister knew about the Post Office Horizon scandal and when he knew it, according to Computer Weekly.
• “Orban will win again and the Leftist chatterati just doesn’t get why” – Viktor Orban has retained deep support among ordinary Hungarian voters that Western commentators consistently underestimate, notes Tibor Fisher in the Telegraph.
• “Student facing charges over tea towel ‘joke’ about pro-Palestine activist” – A university student faces possible hate crime charges after comparing a pro-Palestine activist’s headscarf to a tea towel, according to the Telegraph.
• “Allianz sues six people alleged to have been part of Palestine Action protests” – Allianz has launched civil claims seeking almost £300,000 from six individuals that took part in Palestine Action demonstrations at its UK offices, where red paint was daubed on buildings, reports the Guardian.
• “UK Foreign Affairs Committee calls for Government agency to police online ‘disinformation’” – A parliamentary committee has called for the creation of a GCHQ-adjacent “National Counter Disinformation Centre” with statutory powers to decide which online speech constitutes a national security threat, reveals Reclaim the Net.
• “Why on earth do ‘unapologetic feminists’ want to abolish prisons?” – The campaign to free male predators in the name of women’s rights has exposed how radical ideology has displaced common sense at the heart of modern feminism, writes Michael Deacon in the Telegraph.
• “The conversion therapy we should really ban” – The real scandal about conversion therapy is not the lurid interventions that inspired the ban but the widespread and largely unreported practice of steering gender-questioning children away from accepting their biological sex, says Lionel Shriver in the Spectator.
• “Premier League’s Pride campaign triggers legal complaint over ‘gender ideology’” – A formal legal complaint has been lodged against the Football Association demanding it prohibit the Premier League’s Pride campaign on the grounds that it promotes contested gender ideology to millions of fans, reveals the Telegraph.
• “How Britain’s CEOs are quietly giving up on BLM” – Corporate Britain has begun quietly retreating from the woke agenda it embraced in 2020, with major companies distancing themselves from Black Lives Matter without fanfare or explanation, says the Telegraph.
• “The rise and fall of Tariq Ramadan” – The scandal surrounding the conviction of Tariq Ramadan for rape has been ignored by the English-language media, revealing the disturbing extent of his influence in Western institutions, notes Douglas Murray in the Spectator.
• “Apple’s new iPhone update is restricting internet freedom in the UK” – A recent iOS software update has introduced mandatory age and identity verification at the operating system level, quietly changing how millions of people in Britain access the internet without any public debate, reports Big Brother Watch.
• “JD Vance: Europe is censoring anger about rising fuel prices” – The US Vice-President has attacked Britain and the EU for suppressing public anger over soaring energy costs, reports the Times.
• “Greens accused of blocking tens of thousands of homes in furious row with Labour” – The Greens have attempted to block at least 42,000 new homes since 2018, including 13,000 affordable properties, according to the Mail.
• “OpenAI blames Britain’s high energy prices as it halts data centre plans” – The maker of ChatGPT has suspended its UK Stargate data centre investment, citing energy costs and regulatory uncertainty in a devastating blow to Labour’s ambition to make Britain an AI superpower, reports the Telegraph.
• “Fuel stocks at lowest since Ukraine crisis” – Forecourt stocks of petrol and diesel have hit a three-year low, matching levels last seen during the Ukraine crisis, as the Iran conflict sends pump prices soaring and supply chains come under fresh strain, says the Telegraph.
• “Area the size of 1,100 football pitches needed to meet demand for EV chargers” – Britain will need to find land equivalent to 1,100 football pitches to accommodate the electric vehicle charging infrastructure required as demand surges, according to the Telegraph.
• “Green investors face 50% losses as eco fund winds down” – A green investment vehicle that raised more than £1.1 billion from small investors has collapsed, leaving its backers facing losses of up to half their money as the sustainable investment boom continues to unravel, reports the Times.
• “David Lammy ‘ran away’ from eco-project that collapsed in chaos” – The Foreign Secretary has been accused of abandoning a sustainable farming venture he was associated with after it fell apart, says the Telegraph.
• “Two-thirds of public call on Rachel Reeves to axe her petrol tax raid” – A new poll has found that 68% of voters want the Chancellor to scrap the fuel duty hike as pump prices soar on the back of the Iran conflict, says the Mail.
• “Rachel Reeves must simplify UK tax rules to drive growth, says OECD” – The OECD has warned that Britain’s sprawling and labyrinthine tax system is acting as a brake on growth and employment, urging the Chancellor to undertake fundamental simplification, notes the Times.
• “Reeves is murdering the high street – but her accessories lie closer to home” – Rachel Reeves’s tax rises have inflicted severe damage on Britain’s high streets, yet the Chancellor’s political allies bear a share of the blame that has so far escaped scrutiny, according to the Telegraph.
• “Traders know better than to trust what ‘Taco’ Trump says” – Financial markets have developed a studied scepticism towards the President’s pronouncements, shrugging off rising geopolitical and trade instability in a sign that investors are pricing in his unpredictability, reports the Telegraph.
• “Surge pricing could be coming to supermarkets, Bank of England warns” – New technology that allows shops to adjust prices in real time in response to demand could soon bring airline-style surge pricing to British supermarkets, the Bank of England has warned, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Anthropic suppresses AI program ‘too dangerous to release to public’” – A leading AI company has developed a model capable of breaking out of its testing environment and launching cyberattacks, and has concluded it is too dangerous to release, notes the Times.
• “Edinburgh suspends 300% second homes tax after eight days” – Edinburgh Council has been forced into a humiliating U-turn, abandoning its 300% council tax on second homes just over a week after introducing it, reveals the Telegraph.
• “Relish your last pot of Gentleman’s Relish – it’s officially toast” – Patum Peperium, the anchovy paste sold as Gentleman’s Relish since the 19th Century, has been permanently pulled from the shelves, bringing to an end one of Britain’s most venerable condiment traditions, says the Telegraph.
• “A British university student is facing prosecution after comparing a Keffiyeh worn by a pro-Palestinian activist to a ‘tea towel’” – Watch the Free Speech Union’s Connie Shaw interview Brodie Mitchell, a student at Royal Holloway who was suspended and placed under investigation after responding to taunts from a pro-Palestinian woman by asking her why she was wearing a “tea towel” on her head.