• Reuters

    Shipping industry urges UN to protect vessels after Iran seizure

    Merchant ships and seafarers are increasingly in peril at sea as attacks escalate in the Middle East and the United Nations must do more to protect supply chains, the industry said in a letter released on Friday. Tensions have soared across the Middle East since the start of Israel's campaign in Gaza in October, with Israel or its ally the United States clashing repeatedly with Iranian-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In a letter sent on Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the world's leading shipping industry associations said Iran's seizure on April 13 of the MSC Aries container ship 50 nautical miles off the United Arab Emirates coast "once again highlighted the intolerable situation where shipping has become a target".

  • PA Media: UK News

    MP ‘deeply saddened’ as Israeli twinning signs disappear from Bournemouth roads

    The local authority has pledged to replace them as soon as possible.

  • Associated Press Finance

    France asks retailers to alert customers to cases of 'shrinkflation'

    The French government announced a new rule on Friday that will require stores to tell customers when a product becomes smaller but its price stays the same or increases, a practice known as shrinkflation. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced the measure to tackle the common but often criticized method that has become an international buzzword. Le Maire called shrinkflation a “scam” and stressed the importance of transparency.