What happened
The US military has announced that it will enforce a naval blockade on vessels linked to Iran’s ports, stopping short of a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The move narrows an earlier declaration by Donald Trump, who had threatened to shut down all maritime traffic through the critical route. Instead, US Central Command said shipping to and from non-Iranian destinations would still be permitted. The announcement came after high-level talks between Washington and Tehran over the weekend failed to produce a breakthrough, adding strain to an already fragile ceasefire.

Who said what
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the US would bear the economic consequences of the blockade, warning Americans: “Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas.”

What next?
Britain will not play a part in the move, according to the Press Association. A government spokesperson said: “We continue to support freedom of navigation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is urgently needed to support the global economy and the cost of living back home.” Trump continues to “pour scorn” on Nato and the UK for refusing to back offensive action against Iran, according to The Independent, with the US president calling the alliance “shameful”.

What happened
John Swinney has said a second referendum on Scottish independence could take place as early as 2028, describing such a timeline as “perfectly conceivable”.

Who said what
Speaking during a televised debate ahead of the Holyrood election, the Scottish National Party leader said Scots were “entitled” to decide their future and called for a strong SNP mandate. But opponents have pushed back. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar insisted that the election “is not about independence”. And his Conservative counterpart Russell Findlay warned that separation would be an “unmitigated disaster”.

Party leaders also clashed over immigration, the NHS and energy during the debate. “Control over immigration and borders is reserved to the UK government, but it has emerged as a major issue during the Holyrood election campaign,” said Angus Cochrane on the BBC.

What next?
Any referendum would still require approval from the UK government, and Keir Starmer has already ruled out a vote during his tenure. The debate is likely to intensify as election results determine whether pro-independence parties can claim a mandate to press the case again.

The deep blue sea is becoming deeper – in colour, that is. Climate change, along with human development, has reduced how much light can filter through the water. Reduced light can significantly disrupt the marine food chain as well as accelerate climate change itself.

The darkening occurs when “changes in the optical properties of the oceans reduce the depth to which sufficient light penetrates to facilitate biological processes guided by sunlight and moonlight”, said a 2025 study published in the journal Global Change Biology. The colour shift can make the water look more opaque.

The part of the ocean that sunlight is able to penetrate is called the photic zone and it is “home to 90% of marine species”, said the World Economic Forum. Organisms like phytoplankton also “convert sunlight and CO2 into energy, producing nearly half the planet’s oxygen and absorbing vast amounts of carbon emissions”.

As the photic zone shrinks, “many marine species are forced to move closer to the surface in order to survive”, said Diario AS. This “pushes large numbers of organisms into a much smaller space, increasing competition for food, raising biological stress and leaving them far more exposed to predators”.

The ocean’s ability to perform photosynthesis is therefore compromised, weakening its “role as a carbon sink, its natural capacity to capture and store the carbon dioxide that warms the planet”, added the Spanish daily newspaper. As a result, climate change will worsen at a faster rate.

The good news is that the ocean “still has a remarkable capacity to heal itself”, said Professor Tim Smyth, a marine scientist and co-author of the study. “Give marine ecosystems a little room to recover and they often respond with surprising speed.”