Trainline says Middle East tensions hitting European rail bookings

Profits jump to £122m at ticketing retailer but it expects flat or declining revenues over the coming year

Trainline has said the US standoff with Iran is hitting its revenues, with rail ticket sales to foreign visitors to Europe affected.

The UK-based ticketing retailer said it expected revenues to stay flat or decline over the coming year, citing “the effects of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East on inbound air traffic into Europe”.

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Two hikers injured in US bear attack on Yellowstone trail

National park closes areas near Old Faithful after attack by one or more bears, with incident under investigation

Two hikers were injured in a bear attack on Monday on a trail in Yellowstone national park, park officials said.

The National Park Service said in a statement on Tuesday that the hikers sustained injuries on Monday by “one or more bears” on the Mystic Falls trail near Old Faithful in Yellowstone national park. Officials did not specify which species of bear.

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Polanski says he is not ready to be PM, but might be in two years’ time – UK politics live

Green leader also apologised for misrepresenting his work with the Red Cross, and defended party policy on drugs

Labour has criticised Zack Polanski for saying he was concerned about how the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings was treated when he was arrested by the police.

Referring to what Polanski said about this in his Today interview this morning (see 9.33am), a Labour party spokesperson said:

Our brave police ran towards a suspected terrorist and tackled him while he was still carrying a knife and before they could handcuff him.

The fact that Zack Polanski is still sympathising with this individual is utterly astounding. For the Green party leader to be litigating the case for the defence against the police shows whose side he is truly on.

The latest unemployment figures for February showed a fall, interest rates were expected to come down, the markets were pricing in a couple of cuts during the course of the year.

The truth is, with the effect of the Iran war, we can’t count on any of that at the moment. There is likely to be an effect on prices, which feeds through from energy costs, and there may well be labour market implications.

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Pope Leo rejects claim he supports nuclear weapons after Trump tirade

Pontiff responds after US president accuses him of ‘endangering a lot of Catholics’ with stance on Iran war

Pope Leo has said he has never supported nuclear weapons and that those who criticise him need to speak the truth, in response Donald Trump’s latest tirade accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics” with his stance on the Iran war.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday night after leaving the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, the first US-born pontiff said: “The mission of the church is to preach the gospel, to preach peace.”

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Reform-led Lancashire county council to quit refugee resettlement scheme

Councillor announces plan to withdraw from government-funded programme in run-up to May elections

The Reform-led Lancashire county council will withdraw from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme, one of its cabinet members has said.

Councillor Joshua Roberts announced plans for Lancashire to leave the scheme, which would make it the first local authority to do so.

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Airlines among companies using fuel surcharges to cover surge in costs, UK survey shows

Firms raising prices at fastest rate in three years, driven by soaring energy and wage bills but also extra materials costs

Airlines and other companies are increasingly using fuel surcharges to cover soaring costs, a survey has found, in a further sign of Iran war-linked inflation hitting the economy.

A poll of companies in the services sector, which includes airlines, found rising fuel prices had contributed to businesses raising prices at the fastest pace in more than three years in April.

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Oil and gas prices fall sharply, driven by hopes of strait of Hormuz reopening – business live

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy has announced the strait of Hormuz could reopen following the end of ‘threats from aggressors’

Job vacancies in the UK bounced back in March but remained near a five-year low, and openings for graduates slumped more than a third.

UK job vacancies showed signs of recovery in March, rising 3.74% month-on-month to 752,711 – the second monthly increase after an extended period of decline, according to the job matching platform Adzuna. Yet despite this tentative rebound, the overall picture remains tough for job seekers. Vacancies are still 13.60% lower than in March 2025, and the market remains near its weakest level since 2021.

Like BP last week, these are unearned windfall profits driven by Trump’s war with Iran.

Equinor now wants to cash in even more by developing the Rosebank oil field, which would be a terrible deal for the UK. This government must put the needs of the British public – for affordable energy and a safe climate – ahead of this Norwegian oil giant’s relentless pursuit of profit.

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Coyote swam 2 miles to Alcatraz Island, going farther than scientists expected

Biologists had guessed coyote paddled a shorter distance to former prison in the San Francisco Bay earlier this year

A lone coyote stunned biologists and others when earlier this year it paddled its way to the remote Alcatraz Island, a former federal prison in the San Francisco Bay surrounded by swift, choppy waters notorious for thwarting prisoners’ escapes.

At the time, biologists guessed the coyote swam from San Francisco, which is a little over 1 mile (1.6km) from the fortress. But it turns out the male coyote actually made an even longer swim from nearby Angel Island, 2 miles away.

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Alaska’s 2025 mega tsunami highlights risk to cruise lines as glaciers retreat

Researchers say 481-metre wave in fjord was triggered by rockslide linked to climate crisis

A mega tsunami in Alaska last year in a fjord visited by cruise ships is a stark warning of the risks of coastal rockslides and glacier retreat fueled by the climate crisis, a new study warns.

Scientists recorded the world’s second-tallest tsunami after it struck the Tracy Arm fjord in south-east Alaska last August after a massive rockslide around the toe of a glacier. The tsunami reached 481 metres (1,578ft) in height; by comparison the Eiffel Tower is 330 metres (1082ft).

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Sick crew members evacuated from hantavirus cruise ship | First Thing

Medical evacuations from vessel as Spain gives permission to dock at Canary Islands. Plus: the Mexico City nightclub that charges Americans 90% more

Good morning.

Three people, including two crew members, on the MV Hondius have been medically evacuated to the Netherlands following a suspected hantavirus outbreak that is believed to have killed at least three passengers. The evacuation means the ship, with close to 150 people onboard, can now continue on its three-day journey to the Canary Islands after Spanish authorities gave permission for the vessel to dock.

What is hantavirus? It is a rare disease that is usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva.

What is the plan for the ship? It is sailing to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the Spanish health ministry will work alongside the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and World Health Organization to examine and treat the crew and passengers before repatriating them to their respective countries.

On Wednesday, the Canary Islands government said it opposed the plan and was requesting a meeting with the Spanish prime minister.

What did Project Freedom achieve? The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the US had successfully secured a path through the waterway and that hundreds of commercial ships were lining up to pass through. So far, however, only two merchant ships are known to have passed through, with hundreds more – carrying up to 23,000 crew members – bottled up in the Gulf.

What is the US end game? Rubio said that for peace to be achieved, Iran must agree to Trump’s demands on its nuclear program and to open the strait.

This is a developing story. Follow the live blog here.

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Mexico nightclub’s $300 cover charge for US citizens captures popular mood

Owner of Japan nightclub says ‘This is a response to a year of insults directed at us – as a country – by the United States’

A Mexico City nightclub has gone viral for charging Americans a nearly $300 cover charge, while citizens from any other country pay just $20 for access, and Mexicans and other Latin Americans pay only $14.

The Instagram announcement from the nightclub Japan in the Roma Norte neighborhood has been liked over 26,000 times and received more than 200 comments, mostly supporting the policy as part of a broader revolt in the capital against what many see as a US takeover.

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‘Putin only cares about parades’: fury as Russia rains missiles on Ukraine during 24-hour truce

Dozens killed despite ceasefire announced by Zelenskyy, after Moscow asked for Saturday truce for its annual military parade

Kyiv has criticised Russia for attacking several Ukrainian cities overnight with more than 100 combat drones and three missiles, in spite of a unilateral 24-hour ceasefire called by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukraine’s president had announced the truce after the Kremlin said it wanted a ceasefire on Saturday during its annual military parade in Red Square – but he said he would reciprocate if Vladimir Putin broke Ukraine’s ceasefire, which ends at midnight on Wednesday.

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French company confirms one of its vessels attacked in Strait of Hormuz – The Jerusalem Post

  1. French company confirms one of its vessels attacked in Strait of Hormuz  The Jerusalem Post
  2. CMA CGM container ship hit in Strait of Hormuz, injuring crew  Reuters
  3. US petrol prices hit highest level in years – as it happened  The Guardian
  4. Live Updates: Latest from Israel, Iran, and Middle East  The Jerusalem Post
  5. A cargo ship near Strait of Hormuz reports being attacked  NBC News
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‘Terrifying’: political candidate violently abused and schoolboy thrown into bin, antisemitism royal commission hears

The third day of hearings of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion heard further evidence from Jewish Australians

Violent antisemitic abuse was allowed to proliferate across a Jewish political candidate’s social media as part of a broader trend designed to intimidate Jewish Australians from public life, a royal commission has heard.

Joshua Kirsh launched a campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales upper house in late 2025 but found his advertisements online bombarded by antisemitic tropes, abuse and threats.

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Wednesday briefing: How Trump’s attempt to reopen to strait of Hormuz brought war closer again

In today’s newsletter: ​The brief US effort to ​s​teer trapped vessels through the ​waterway ​put the fragile ceasefire under strain

Good morning. Uncertainty once again reigns in the Middle East. The uneasy ceasefire between the US and Iran threatened to disintegrate after Donald Trump launched an initiative – dubbed “Project Freedom” – to help thousands of sailors stranded in the Gulf by the war to pass through the strait of Hormuz.

To Iran, the announcement was a cynical provocation. Flurries of fighting restarted as Iran sought to maintain its grip on the critical passageway out of the region.

UK politics | Zack Polanski falsely claimed to be a spokesperson for the British Red Cross while campaigning for the Green party leadership, the charity has said.

Fuel shortages| Two million airline seats have been cut from this month’s schedules as airlines redraw their operations because of soaring jet fuel prices amid the Middle East conflict.

UK news| A British crew member who became ill after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus on luxury cruise ship the MV Hondius is to be medically evacuated, officials have said.

Tax | An increased windfall tax should be imposed on the UK’s largest banks, say trade union leaders, after the big four lenders reported almost £14bn in first-quarter profits, partly fuelled by market turbulence amid the Iran war.

Society | People from black backgrounds in England are twice as likely to experience strokes as their white counterparts, while also being less likely to receive timely care, according to the largest study of its kind.

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Singapore introduces caning for boys who bully others at school

Under new guidelines caning will only be used in schools for male students aged nine and above

Male school students who bully others, including through cyberbullying, will face caning as a “last resort” under new guidelines introduced in Singapore.

Male students can face up to three strokes of the cane under the new rules, which were discussed in parliament on Tuesday.

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Horrified Wagga residents call for proper sanitation at homeless camp where baby was found dead

Tent where twins were born up to a 15-minute walk away from nearest public toilets or running water

The tent where a newborn baby was found dead at Wagga beach at the weekend was part of a homeless encampment up to a 15-minute walk away from the nearest public toilets or running water, with residents in a nearby apartment block saying conditions were “worse than a Syrian war camp”.

The tragedy has prompted fury in the community, with residents of Wagga Wagga calling on authorities to take urgent action to make the encampments safe and sanitary.

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EU trade deal could force UK to restrict use of weedkiller linked to cancer

Glyphosate is currently sprayed on cereal and pulse crops to dessicate them and make them easier to harvest

A new trade deal with the EU could lead to restrictions on the use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate on UK food crops.

The full-spectrum herbicide, which kills almost every plant it touches, is often sprayed on wheat, oats and other cereal and pulse crops shortly before harvest to desiccate them and make them easier to handle.

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