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Eurozone inflation rises to 3% in April amid Middle East energy shock
Eurozone inflation rose more than expected to 3 per cent in April as the economy reeled from the energy shock unleashed by the conflict in the Middle East. Thursday’s preliminary estimate surpassed economists’ forecast of 2.9 per cent in a Reuters poll and followed a 2.6 per cent reading in March. It is the second month in a row that inflation has exceeded the European Central Bank’s medium-term target of 2 per cent. Separate data showed that Eurozone growth slowed to 0.1 per cent in the first quarter due to surging energy prices. European stocks and government bonds were under pressure on Thursday as a surging oil price intensified fears of persistent inflation. Financial Times, April 30

Israel intercepts Gaza flotilla near Crete and detains 175 activists
Pro-Palestinian activists say at least 22 boats from a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza have been intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters near the Greek island of Crete. The organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla denounced it as "piracy". They said those on board the vessels had been seized unlawfully 965km (600 miles) from Gaza, which is under an Israeli naval blockade. The Israeli foreign ministry said about 175 activists from more than 20 boats had been detained and were being transported to Israel. It dismissed the flotilla as a "PR stunt". GSF's tracking data showed that most of the remaining 36 boats in the flotilla were sailing close to Crete's south-western coast. The flotilla set sail two weeks ago, with a total of 58 vessels joining from Spain, France and Italy aiming to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. On Thursday, the GSF said that, as of 04:30 GMT, at least 22 of them had been "stormed by Israeli forces in complete violation of international law". An earlier statement said Israeli naval forces had "intercepted vessels, jammed communications, including distress channels, and aggressively abducted civilians". BBC news, April 30

Global press freedom falls to lowest level in 25 years, RSF warns
Freedom of the press has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, NGO Reporters without Borders (RSF) warned on Thursday as it released its annual global ranking. The group reported a worldwide decline in media freedom, citing factors ranging from US President Donald Trump’s “systematic” attacks on the press to actions in Saudi Arabia, where a journalist was executed in 2025. The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to assess the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good". This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms. "For the first time in the index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," RSF said. The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20 per cent to "less than 1 per cent", it said. France 24, April 30

Google outpaces rivals as Big Tech’s AI spending plans rise to $725bn
Google outshone its rivals in first-quarter earnings with faster cloud growth as the search giant and its Big Tech peers upped their AI infrastructure spending plans again to $725bn this year. The big four “hyperscalers”, which include Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet, are together expecting to spend 77 per cent more in capital expenditures than a record $410bn last year. While investors have expressed scepticism about the huge sums in the past, they broadly welcomed the earnings reports as demand for AI and data centres drove large jumps in revenue and profits - led by a 63 per cent increase in Google Cloud revenue. “The AI economy is healthy,” said Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies. Recent increases in revenue suggested the big players can shoulder the vast capex costs, he added. “The bear thesis is garbage.” Financial Times, April 30

Afghan masterminded pickpocket gang who shipped £180m of iPhones abroad
The mastermind of a pickpocketing operation organised for more than 62,000 stolen iPhones to be shipped abroad. Amir Khadikhel arranged for £181 million of handsets to be sent to China and Dubai in less than a year before he was identified after a victim traced his stolen device to a courier company. The Afghan asylum seeker was at the top of a network of hundreds of pickpockets operating across the country, but mainly in London, who were paid up to £750 for the newest iPhone models. The thieves only stole the Apple-brand handsets and are believed by police to have accounted for about 40 per cent of all mobile phones stolen in London. Police discovered some of the thefts were carried out by an all-female gang of 25 pickpockets aged between 14 and their mid-twenties operating in the West End and Soho areas. They often targeted tourists. The Times, April 29

King Charles subtly rebukes Donald Trump despite show of unity
In King Charles’s speech to a joint session of Congress, the first by a member of the British royal family in more than 30 years, he admonished his hosts on Capitol Hill - and down the road at the White House. “America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence,” the 77-year-old British monarch said. “The actions of this great nation matter even more.” While the royal visit to Donald Trump’s court over the past two days has featured all the mutual flattery and pomp of the occasion, there was no way to conceal the strain in the “special relationship” between the UK and US. The growing chasm was apparent amid friction over the war in Iran. Plus, there was the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, which rattled the White House as well as the King’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner days earlier. The two heads of state made a valiant effort to rise above all that with the US president treating King Charles to a fly-past of F-35 fighter jets and the tunes of the Marine Corps band. After meeting in the Oval Office, Trump described the King as a “fantastic person”. Financial Times, April 29

Europe hit by record heat, glacier loss and marine extremes per climate report
Europe endured a historic heatwave across Nordic countries, shrinking glaciers and record sea temperatures in 2025 as the fast-warming continent faces more frequent climate extremes, a new report showed on Wednesday. "The climate indicators … are quite worrying," Mauro Facchini, a European Commission official, told journalists. The European State of the Climate report underscores the urgent need for the region to adapt to global warming and accelerate its transition to clean energy, another EU official said. At least 95 per cent of the region experienced above-average annual temperatures, with Britain, Norway and Iceland recording their warmest year on record. "Since 1980, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest warming continent on Earth," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a briefing on the report. "Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe. And in 2025, we saw long duration heatwaves from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle." France 24, April 29

UBS trading gains fuel 80% profit surge
Profits at UBS jumped 80 per cent in the first quarter, as strong trading and client activity fuelled by market volatility from the war in the Middle East lifted net profit to $3bn. The Swiss bank benefited from a sharp rise in markets revenues, with higher volatility boosting equities and foreign-exchange trading, while its core wealth-management arm continued to attract fresh client inflows. The record trading performance at the Swiss lender mirrors that of US rivals, which were able to capitalise on a frenzy of activity sparked by the US military intervention in Venezuela in January and the ongoing conflict in Iran to report some of their best results in years. Underlying revenues in UBS’s markets division hit a record $3.2bn, almost a third higher than the same period a year earlier, the bank said. The performance was driven by a 29 per cent jump in its equities trading business to $2.3bn, and a 38 per cent gain at its smaller fixed-income unit, which brought in $900mn. Financial Times, April 29

Lloyds Bank profits hit £2bn on higher for longer interest rates
Higher-for-longer interest rates amid the war in the Middle East have boosted quarterly profits at Lloyds Banking Group to a bigger-than-expected £2 billion. The bank, which is the country’s largest mortgage lender, said on Wednesday that its pre-tax profits in the three months to the end of March had climbed by 33 per cent, taking them above the £1.8 billion forecast by City analysts. It has been buoyed by fatter margins, which benefit from higher borrowing costs. Its net interest margin, which is the difference between what a bank charges for loans and pays on deposits, increased to 3.17 per cent from 3.03 per cent a year earlier. This also beat the 3.15 per cent pencilled in by analysts and was up from the 3.1 per cent Lloyds had reported for the end of December. Expectations for higher rates also prompted the group to lift its forecast for underlying net interest income this year to greater than £14.9 billion, from its previous guidance of about that figure. The Times, April 29

11 cancers on the rise in young people - scientists find first clue why it's happening
Eleven cancers are becoming more common in young people in England, a major analysis shows. A full explanation for why levels of cancer are increasing remains elusive. But the study reveals that a decades-long pattern of people becoming more overweight is likely to play some role, even though it is far from the whole story. Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London stressed cancer in young people is still rare and that everyone can reduce their risk by living a healthy lifestyle. BBC news, April 29