What happened
A Russian naval vessel has escorted sanctioned oil tankers through the English Channel, despite warnings from Keir Starmer that such ships could be seized. The frigate Admiral Grigorovich (pictured above) travelled alongside two tankers, Universal and Enigma, as they moved along England’s south coast. The ships are linked to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, used to transport oil exports that help sustain its war effort in Ukraine.

Who said what
By “openly defying” Keir Starmer’s threat to seize sanctioned Russian vessels, Vladimir Putin “mocked” the prime minister, said Tom Cotterill in The Telegraph.

The Russians are “desperate to keep that oil flowing and keep the war in Ukraine going” Andrew Fox, a retired parachute regiment major and senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, told the paper. “They are running rings around Starmer right now”.

What next?
The incident comes as Starmer “faces mounting criticism over the readiness of the Royal Navy”, said The Times. Donald Trump has called the Navy’s two aircraft carriers “toys” and his defence secretary Pete Hegseth mocked Britain’s “big, bad Royal Navy”.

What happened
GCHQ has warned that hacking groups linked to the Russian state are turning wifi routers into espionage devices.

Fancy Bear, also known as APT28 and Forest Blizzard, is a group believed to be a unit of Russian military intelligence. It was accused of hacking into the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 US presidential election.

Who said what
The National Cyber Security Centre said on Tuesday the operations were “believed to be opportunistic in nature” and “targeting a wide pool of victims” through commonly sold internet routers such as TP-Link and MikroTik.

“Although this Russian group is highlighted in this particular campaign, it’s almost inevitable other routers will have vulnerabilities yet to be identified”, said Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University. This technique is an “an oldie but goodie” as devices such as routers are “often forgotten about and so not updated”.

What next?
The NCSC encourages people to upgrade from older devices and update the software on routers. If not, “it’s almost bound to happen again”, said Woodward.

A new dating service has sprung up in Japan, aiming to get around the country’s ban on married couples having different surnames. 

In a series of match-making events held this spring, every participant shared the same family name. The concept, the organisers said, is simply that “two people who already have the same last name won’t have to agonise over which one to use after marriage”.

Japan’s current civil code, which dates back to the 19th century, specifies that a husband and wife must use the same family name. While there is no stipulation which name the couple adopts, in the country’s male-dominated society it is the man’s in 95% of cases. Critics claim this affects women’s employment prospects, contributes to Japan’s low birth rate and leaves young couples with an added pressure when trying to find a life partner.

For would-be couples in Iceland, the problem is being related to your partner. With a population of just 330,000, the risk of pairing up with someone genetically similar to you is high.

“Now, as social media and apps expand the dating pool”, many people are turning to a website “to ensure they aren’t swimming in the same gene pool,” said The Wall Street Journal. 

In China, meanwhile, some parents are taking matters into their own hands to find partners for their children, with many “increasingly turning to ‘find a daughter-in-law’ or ‘find a son-in-law’ platforms online, turning partner-seeking into direct negotiations between parents”, said South China Morning Post.

“Instead of trying to persuade single young adults who resist matchmaking”, a few “sharp-eyed businesses” are now “directly targeting a different demographic: anxious parents with strong purchasing power”.