Oil prices plunge and stocks jump after Trump announces conditional ceasefire with Iran
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Oil heads for biggest daily fall since pandemic as Iran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz under its management

• Middle East crisis – live updates

• US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz

Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday and global stock markets rallied after the US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire.

Investors welcomed the news that Donald Trump had held off on his threat to bomb Iran into “the stone ages”, while Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under the management of Iran’s military.

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Ceasefire changes little for shipping in strait of Hormuz, experts say
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Analysts expect only limited increase in shipping as vessels will still need to seek Iranian permission to transit

• Middle East crisis – live updates

There will be no “mass exodus” of ships through the strait of Hormuz, shipping analysts say, despite a two-week conditional ceasefire being agreed between the US and Iran with provision for the temporary reopening of the crucial maritime channel.

Tehran said on Wednesday that it would offer safe passage in coordination with its armed forces, though its coastguards said any ship trying to transit without permission would be “targeted and destroyed”.

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John Lewis boss’s pay rises to £1.2m as retailer cuts 3,300 jobs
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Jason Tarry sees salary increase by 21% in year to January, while fewer people are employed at John Lewis and Waitrose stores

The boss of the group that owns John Lewis and Waitrose had his basic pay rate increased by 21% last year while the retailer cut 3,300 jobs.

The annual salary of Jason Tarry, who became chair of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) in September 2024, was increased to £1.2m for the year to January, from £990,000.

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‘We can’t increase prices any more’: UK hospitality firms hit by cost triple blow
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Struggling pubs reel from rising business rates, wages and energy bills, with customers at limit of what they will pay

Nick Evans is staring in vain at columns of numbers, trying to make them add up to a profit. He is a co-owner of the Old Crown Coaching Inn in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, a pub and hotel whose rich history is etched into its crooked wooden beams and cosy snugs.

Oliver Cromwell stayed here in 1645. A room believed to have been used by the notoriously severe “hanging judge” Lord Jeffreys to condemn rebels now stages happier encounters: it is the honeymoon suite.

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Britons warned about Russian hackers targeting internet routers for espionage
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Expert stresses importance of staying alert for unusual activity, as hackers could ‘take you to fake sites’

• UK politics live – latest updates

Russian hackers are exploiting commonly sold internet routers to harvest information for espionage purposes, the UK’s cybersecurity agency has said.

The hack could allow attackers to obtain users’ credentials, redirect them to fake sites, and potentially access other devices on their home network such as phones and PCs, said Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey.

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Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers
Posted on Tuesday April 07, 2026

Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34%

• ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare

Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the crime.

The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators. The figure is 34% higher than in 2024.

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Paris Saint-Germain v Liverpool: Champions League quarter-final, first leg – live
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
⚽ Barcelona v Atlético Madrid – live | Latest scores

“I am beset by dread,” writes Joe Pearson, “and not in the ‘I am the law’ kind of way. Although admittedly PSG are giving off ‘You’re next, punk!’ vibes. IYKYK.”

While Arsenal were busy Arsenaling their way to a worthy but dull Bigger Cup quarter-final first leg win at Sporting on Tuesday, the players of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich released the collective handbrake and performed many high-speed donuts, wheel spins and Rockfords as a pleasing counterpoint to the careful mirror-signal-manoeuvring on display at Lisbon’s Estádio José Alvalade.

Like a couple of stolen supercars racing each other around a shopping mall in The Fast and the Furious: Bicester Village, these two European heavyweights massively committed to the bit, not unlike a daily football email bogged down in a laboured motoring metaphor.

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Barcelona v Atlético Madrid: Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
⚽ PSG v Liverpool – live | Latest scores | And mail Luke

Alvarez, leading the line for the visitors, has scored 14 goals in his last 17 Champions League matches. #Prolific

“A smash and grab would be great,” emails Andres. “But look up Simeone’s record at Barcelona.”

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