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Powerful property and farming firm Grosvenor Group says knock-on effect of Iran war could arrive next yearFertiliser shortages caused by the Iran war have driven up costs for UK farmers by up to 70% and will have a “dramatic” impact on food prices globally next year, according to one of Britain’s most powerful property and farming companies.Mark Preston, executive trustee of the 349-year-old Grosvenor Group, controlled by the Duke of Westminster, said fertiliser “was already quite expensive” before the 50% to 70% surge in prices since the start of the Iran war in late February. Continue reading...

US president gave no details on how operation would work as Iran says it will attack any armed force entering waterwayMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US has launched an operation to “guide” ships trapped in the Gulf by the Iran war through a southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, even as Tehran insisted that any such transits would have to be coordinated with its armed forces.The scheme was announced as “Project Freedom” on Sunday night by Donald Trump on his social media page, where he portrayed it as a humanitarian gesture to help crews on hundreds of ships which have been unable to leave the Gulf since the war began. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Varun Chandra’s talks with Google, Meta, Apple and others raise fears of ‘lobbying behind closed doors’An influential government adviser close to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech executives, the Guardian can reveal.The No 10 business aide Varun Chandra discussed regulatory changes, AI and Donald Trump’s second administration with tech corporations during confidential meetings between October 2024 and October 2025. In one meeting he offered to help a top executive meet the prime minister directly. Continue reading...

Greg Jackson argues against costly investments in UK’s power grid that are adding to household billsThe boss of the UK’s biggest energy supplier has suggested that some households would accept an occasional electricity blackout in exchange for much lower energy bills.A year on from Europe’s largest power outage – which left tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal without trains, metros, traffic lights, ATMs, phone connections and internet access – the chief executive of Octopus Energy argued against costly investments in the UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills. Continue reading...

Rival to government plans would scrap net zero policies, as party aims to woo sector after decades of job lossesReform UK has asked steel bosses to draw up an “alternative steel strategy” to rival recent government plans, stoking industry fears over a charm offensive by Nigel Farage’s party as it eyes gains in former Labour heartlands.Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, met a group of bosses shortly before Labour announced new steel tariffs in March and commissioned them to draft a competing plan that will include scrapping net zero policies. Continue reading...

Suspect is one of three ex-senior leaders also arrested last year on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughterA former boss at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.Police arrested the suspect on Wednesday as part of an investigation into allegations of gross negligence manslaughter by ex-senior leaders at the Countess of Chester hospital. Continue reading...

Radio company ARN’s defence alleges the shock jock denigrated executives, censors, critics and the audience of the Kyle and Jackie O ShowFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter hereKyle Sandilands repeatedly berated Kiis FM executives, the radio station’s censors, critics of the Kyle and Jackie O Show and the Melbourne audience in expletive-laden rants, according to federal court documents.The details of the alleged tirades, which aired months before the shock jock was sacked and accused of “serious misconduct” by ARN, are contained in the company’s defence of an $85m claim filed by Sandilands. Continue reading...