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Izzy Lyons, Katy Balls, and Megan Agnew, The Times
US president Donald Trump has threatened to charge tolls for ships passing through the strait of Hormuz after Iran claimed to have closed the vital waterway over Israel’s “relentless violation” of a ceasefire in Lebanon, reports the Times. It continues: “The agreement signed by Trump and Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday appeared to be hanging by a thread before peace talks on Sunday, after both sides traded barbs on the strait’s status. The Islamic Republic claimed it had closed the strait on Saturday, while US Central Command said it ‘remained intact’ and that 55 ships had transited.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump threatened imposing a “guardian angel” toll on the strait after the 60-day ceasefire period, the newspaper notes. Talks in Switzerland between the US and Iran “were still ongoing” yesterday, says Bloomberg, “despite Iranian media reports that negotiators had left the venue”.
Despite a “rocky start”, another Bloomberg article says that oil prices dipped – after initially rising – “following signs of progress” at the talks. According to a statement issued by mediators Qatar and Pakistan, the US and Iran “have agreed on a roadmap toward reaching a final deal in 60 days and technical talks will continue for the remainder of the week”, the outlet says. Bloomberg reported on Friday that Iran has “sought to assert control over the strait of Hormuz by saying that ships need its permission and mandatory insurance in order to cross, even as the US said that 20 ships had quietly sailed through overnight via a route along Oman’s coast”. Reuters says that oil shipments had “picked up on Friday”, despite “concerns over conditions set by Tehran for using the vital waterway”. The region’s oil producers now “face a new test”, says the Wall Street Journal – “how fast they can clear shipping bottlenecks and turn stockpiled crude into exports”.
MORE ON IRAN CONFLICT
Bloomberg: “Iran war fuels renewables interest, multilateral lender says.” Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has pledged almost $300m to help renewable energy industry associations “counter a well-financed oil lobby”, reports the Financial Times. As the world is “emerging from the war in Iran with depleted oil supplies”, Chinese state-owned stockpiles “remain nearly full”, says the New York Times. The Financial Times: “Iran war supercharges electric vehicle uptake in Africa.” In an essay for the New York Times, author Edward Fishman says that “Iran’s success at the strait of Hormuz may set off a different kind of arms race – one in which every country searches for choke points to convert into money and power”.
Giselda Vagnoni, Reuters
A “punishing heatwave” sweeping across much of Europe has “prompted a partial alcohol ban in France, nationwide warnings in Germany and the closure of a soccer fan zone in Spain”, reports Reuters. With temperatures approaching 40C, French prime minister Sebastien Lecornu called a “crisis meeting” and ”pre-emptively banned alcohol consumption on Sunday at the annual Fete de la Musique festivals”, the newswire says, adding that “heat alerts were declared in most of Germany, with temperatures approaching 38C”. BBC News and CBS News also have the alcohol “ban” story, while it makes the frontpage of the Daily Telegraph. France was hit by train delays as the rail network was “strongly impacted” by high temperatures that risk damaging overhead power lines and expanding tracks, says Reuters. Temperatures hit 40C in Spain, says Reuters. The Guardian reports that the UK may see 38C heat this week, while the Observer says that “tropical nights” – where temperatures stay above 20C – are likely for the UK.
Agence France Presse notes that the latest extreme weather comes less than a month after a “heatwave that set records in several European countries”. It adds: “Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming.” The heatwave is “being fuelled by a dome of high pressure over continental Europe, which raises temperatures as sinking air compresses toward the ground”, says Bloomberg. A meteorologist tells the outlet that the pattern is being reinforced by the developing strong El Niño and a cold pool of water in the North Atlantic. This, the outlet says, is “helping create a dip in the jet stream over the ocean and driving the high pressure over Europe”.
MORE ON EUROPE
Firefighters in Europe have warned that they are "ill-prepared for a bad wildfire season", says Bloomberg. The Guardian: “How Europe’s EV makers shrank their product to challenge the bloated SUVs.” A fall in European gas prices “has done little to improve the economics of storing fuel for winter”, says Bloomberg. Euractiv: “Europe’s power grid breaks apart as Brussels rulemaking fails to keep pace.” According to a leaked draft of the European Commission’s sustainable livestock strategy, the EU is "considering an overhaul of how it measures methane emissions from livestock", says Drilled. Mail on Sunday: “Rolls-Royce eyes nuke deals to wean Europe off Russia.”
Charlie Cooper, Politico
Following Andy Burnham’s byelection win last week, there is increasing speculation around the government he would form were he to become prime minister. Much of the coverage focuses on a potential role for energy secretary Ed Miliband as chancellor. Politico says that Miliband is “frontrunner” for the job and that he and Burnham are “close”. However, it adds, a “potential source of tension is…the future of North Sea oil and gas”. The Times reports that unnamed “cabinet ministers” have warned Miliband is “not pro-business enough and will undermine the confidence of the markets” as chancellor. The head of one of the UK’s biggest unions, Sharon Graham, tells the Observer that Miliband would be a “noose around the neck” of job creation, while the Sunday Times reports further criticism from Graham. The Financial Times says that Burnham’s camp is “divided” on who to pick as chancellor, but that Miliband’s chances have “ebbed in recent days”.
The reporting on Burnham has ramped up as the Financial Times reports that Keir Starmer is “on the brink of resigning as prime minister”. It says that “colleagues expect Starmer to agree to an ‘orderly’ timetable for a transition of power”, although “Downing Street insiders insisted Starmer had yet to make a final decision”. The Financial Times looks at the potential successors to Starmer. BusinessGreen carries past quotes from Burnham, in which he argues that net-zero is “crucial”. A Guardian “exclusive” reports on a new policy paper – by a Labour group that supports Burnham – laying out plans to “reverse 40 years of privatisation with a long-term plan to take over failing utilities in administration”. In further coverage of Miliband, climate-sceptic newspapers keep up their attacks on the energy secretary, while political rivals have called on Burnham to sack him outright, according to the Sunday Express.
At the same time, there is continued reaction to the byelection win for the Conservatives in Aberdeen. Party leader Kemi Badenoch described the victory – in a city billed as Europe’s oil and gas capital – as winning a “referendum on oil and gas”, reports the Times. It says she called for the Jackdaw and Rosebank developments to be given the go-ahead and said the UK needed to “drill our own oil in the North Sea, not take oil from Russia”. The Independent, BBC News, Sun and Daily Express all cover her quotes. The chief executive of the biggest independent oil and gas operator in the North Sea has also called for new production to go ahead in the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields, says the Times.
MORE ON UK
A government projection suggests a third runway at Heathrow would boost the UK’s economy by just 0.05%, a 10th of the level forecast by the airport, reports the Financial Times. The Guardian also has the story. A Sky News “exclusive” reports that “backtracking on the UK's electric vehicle plans would blow the government's much feted climate target by 13% in a worst-case scenario”. The
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