Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left owing to Iran war, says energy chief
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

There will be flight cancellations ‘soon’ if oil supplies are not restored in coming weeks, says head of IEA

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Europe has only six weeks of jet fuel left before shortages will hit because of the Iran war, according to the head of a global energy watchdog.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.

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UK economy showed surprise 0.5% growth before Iran war
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

ONS figure for February suggests Britain was gaining momentum before conflict dashed hopes of recovery

UK GDP expanded by a stronger than expected 0.5% in February, official figures show, suggesting the economy was gaining momentum before the onset of war in the Middle East dashed hopes of recovery.

The jump, reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), was significantly bigger than the 0.1% forecast by economists. January’s flatlining figure was also revised up, to 0.1% growth.

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Metro Bank boss handed record £2.6m a year after slashing 1,000 jobs
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

Dan Frumkin’s pay package comes after bank’s near collapse and rescue by Colombian billionaire

Metro Bank’s chief executive has been handed a £2.6m pay packet – the largest in its history – a year after slashing 1,000 jobs in response to the lender’s near collapse.

The figure is more than double the £1.2m Dan Frumkin was paid in 2024. Metro pushed through the pay bump and complex bonus scheme for the former RBS and Northern Rock banker at a shareholder meeting last year.

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Man used AI to make false statements to shut down London nightclub, police say
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

Heaven club neighbour admits offences under Licensing Act, as Met says fictitious AI-generated complaints a growing issue

A businessman has pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to shut down a nightclub, which police believe were generated using AI.

A Metropolitan police source said the use of AI to generate letters by complainants who do not exist is a growing issue.

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Starmer tells social media firms: ‘Things can’t go on like this’
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

PM demands real world changes in Downing Street meeting with senior figures from Meta, TikTok, Google and X

Keir Starmer has told social media bosses “things can’t go on like this” in a meeting about internet safety at Downing Street.

The prime minister summoned senior figures from Meta, TikTok, Google, Snapchat’s owner and X to No 10 on Thursday morning as the government considers imposing new restrictions on platforms, including an Australia-style ban for under-16s. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google owns YouTube.

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Norway’s state telecoms firm accused of helping Myanmar regime seize activists
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

Lawsuit in Norway alleges Telenor passed on data helping Myanmar military arrest 1,200 activists, some in safe houses

When even two weeks of torture could not force Aung Thu to betray his fellow anti-coup activists, his military interrogators in Myanmar tried something different: they asked a Norwegian telecoms company, Telenor, then the largest one operating in the country, for its data on him.

The company – whose majority shareholder is the Norwegian government – had first entered Myanmar in 2013 as it was transitioning to democracy, promising to connect users who had been isolated from the world.

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LIV and let die: golf rebels count cost of Saudi cutbacks and other sports fear worst | Matt Hughes
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

Public Investment Fund withdraws support for rebel tour and other sports could be hit too with Newcastle United uncertain

The reverberations of an unscheduled meeting of LIV Golf executives in New York this week have been felt way beyond their swanky offices in Hudson Yards, on the west side of Manhattan.

A slowdown in Saudi Arabia’s lavish spending on sport, which is conservatively estimated to have cost the kingdom more than $10bn in the past five years, had been expected, but its Public Investment Fund’s withdrawal of financial support for the rebel tour – which was first mooted to LIV execs on Monday – has caused shockwaves throughout the wider industry.

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Gibbs-White’s early strike decisive as Nottingham Forest edge past 10-man Porto
Posted on Thursday April 16, 2026

The final whistle brought a second of relief before the celebrations truly kicked in after Nottingham Forest secured a place in the Europa League semi-finals. It should have been easier but nothing is simple at the City Ground as they made hard work of overcoming Porto, who played almost the entire match with 10 men.

Morgan Gibbs-White settled the match, to set up an all-English clash with Aston Villa for a place in the final. His goal came in the aftermath of Jan Bednarek’s early sending off and should have laid the foundations for more but Forest’s finishing was poor, forcing them to grind out the victory by surviving Porto hitting the crossbar twice. Even so, the ultimate jubilation was reminiscent of those great nights of the 1980s under Brian Clough when the club last reached this stage in Europe.

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