UK's 'nuclear jets' and 'Trump drops f-bomb'

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BBC The UK will "match China and Russia with nuclear jets" reports The Times, in a piece about the UK purchasing 12 new fighter jets which can be equipped with nuclear bombs. Acquiring the jets is "the biggest expansion of the deterrent since the Cold War," it says. Another headline on the front page is "Trump drops f-bomb to keep peace in Middle East," with it reporting the US President "issued "a four-letter word denunciation" when peacemaking efforts in the Israel-Iran conflict "seemed on the verge of breaking down".

Britain's new jets lead in the Daily Telegraph too. The PM will announce the purchase at the Nato summit in the Hague, it reports. It also features a prominent photo of cricketer Ben Stokes, noting that England pulled off an "against-the-odds victory" over India in the first test of their series.

The i Paper also leads with the UK's new jets, which it says are "to counter threat posed by Putin". The planes will be "equipped with US-owned nuclear warheads", while "nuclear-armed Trident submarines will remain Britain's ultimate independent deterrent".

The Guardian reports on "Trump's angry warning to Israel". It also carries a story about Sir Keir Starmer rejecting please "to put welfare bill on hold" after a number of his own MPs backed an amendment which could potentially see it stopped. Sir Keir Starmer will "stand firm", the papers says.

The Daily Star quotes Donald Trump's comments on Iran and Israel after they breached a proposed ceasefire.

The Daily Mirror leads with Britain getting "war ready". It details the newly unveiled National Security Strategy, which said "we have to prepare for the homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario".

The PM has been "stunned" by Labour MPs' "revolt on flagship benefits cuts" in what the Daily Mail calls a "humiliating threat" to his authority. More than 120 MPs have joined the "rebellion" against their leader, it says. Inside the tabloid, the "secrets of the Bezos wedding" as the tech-billionaire weds TV presenter Lauren Sanchez. The Mail hints at "a gala dinner for 200 millionaires" and a "surprise pyjama party" too.

The Sun follows up on its investigation into migrants who they say are illegally working as food delivery riders with the headline "off yer bike". Food delivery apps Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats said they have strict rules and checks to ensure they only use riders who have the right to work in the UK.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp's demand that Labour "get a grip" on delivery companies who it says hire those without the right to work in the UK tops the Daily Express.

From a hotel video to baby oil – the BBC's Nada Tawfik breaks down the evidence and testimony heard at the sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.

After the prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, Combs' defence team claimed the government failed to meet its burden in proving the charges - but they did not call any witnesses. Closing statements in the New York trial are set to begin on Thursday.

Millions of children at risk as vaccine uptake stalls

2 hours ago Share Save Dominic Hughes Global health correspondent Share Save

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Progress in vaccinating children against a variety of life-threatening diseases has stalled in the past two decades - and even gone backwards in some countries - a new global study suggests. The situation has been made worse by the Covid pandemic, leaving millions of children unprotected from diseases such as measles, tuberculosis and polio. The researchers are calling for a concerted effort to provide better and more equal access to vaccines. Child health experts warn that cuts to international aid budgets that fund vaccination programmes, combined with vaccine scepticism, are creating a "perfect storm".

The global childhood vaccination programme has been a huge success. Since 1974, more than four billion children have been vaccinated, preventing an estimated 150 million deaths worldwide. In nearly half a century until 2023, researchers say vaccine coverage doubled. But since 2010 progress has stagnated, to the extent that there are now wide variations in vaccine coverage around the world. A study, published in the medical journal The Lancet, says measles vaccinations have declined in nearly 100 countries. The Covid-19 pandemic made things even worse, because of disruption to vaccine programmes during lockdowns. By 2023, there were nearly 16 million children who had not had any childhood vaccinations – most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Study author Dr Jonathan Mosser, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, in the United States, says large numbers of children remain under-vaccinated and un-vaccinated. "Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available, but persistent global inequalities, challenges from the Covid pandemic, and the growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunisation progress," he said. Dr Mosser said there was now increased the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as measles, polio and diphtheria. All children should benefit from life-saving immunisations, he added. Wide discrepancies remain between vaccination rates in wealthier and lower-income countries. But the report's authors warn that vaccination rates have fallen in Europe, the US and other wealthy countries too.

Post Office payout progress insufficient, MPs say

3 hours ago Share Save Michael Race Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

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The government has taken "insufficient action" to ensure people entitled to compensation as a result of the Post Office scandal have applied for it, a report has found. The Public Accounts Committee of MPs, which has scrutinised payouts, noted that many of the wrongly-accused or convicted sub-postmasters were yet to receive "fair and timely" redress. The committee revealed the government had no current plans to follow up with people eligible for compensation, after just one in five letters sent to sub-postmasters about compensation received a response. The Department for Business and Trade said it had paid out more £1bn in compensation to date.

There are four main schemes that sub-postmasters can apply to for compensation, and individual eligibility depends on the circumstances of each case. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. Some sub-postmasters ended up going to prison, while many more were financially ruined and lost their livelihoods. Some died while waiting for justice. The scandal has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, but many victims are still waiting for financial redress, despite government pledges to speed up payouts.

The Department for Business and Trade said the PAC report was based on a "period before last year's election". However, the committee said that while the report did scrutinise the annual accounts for the Department for Business and Trade from April 2023 to March 2024, while the Conservatives were in power, the report also reflected the record of the current government. The report includes evidence heard in April this year and reflected some figures as recent as May. The committee said: By March this year, the Post Office, which is owned by the government, had written to 18,500 people, regarding applications for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), but the majority had not responded.

but the majority had not responded. The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) , which offers 800 eligible people a choice between applying for a £600,000 flat-rate settlement or the option to pursue a "full claim assessment", had received 536 applications by May this year. Of those, 339 had chosen the flat payout sum. The report said the government had yet to receive any full claim assessment applications

, which offers 800 eligible people a choice between applying for a £600,000 flat-rate settlement or the option to pursue a "full claim assessment", had received 536 applications by May this year. Of those, 339 had chosen the flat payout sum. The report said the government had yet to receive any full claim assessment applications In relation to the Overturned Convictions Scheme, 25 eligible individuals out of 111 people had not yet submitted a claim. Some 86 had submitted full and final claims, of which 69 had been paid. The PAC report said the government had "no plans for following up with people who are, or may be, eligible to claim under the schemes but who have not yet applied". It added the government did not yet have clarity on the value of claims expected through the HSS and HCRS schemes. Latest figures showed a total of £1.039bn has been awarded to just over 7,300 sub-postmasters across all the redress schemes. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the committee, said it was "deeply dissatisfactory" to find that the compensation schemes were still moving "far too slowly, with no government plans to track down the majority of potential claimants who may not yet be aware of their proper entitlements". "It is entirely unacceptable that those affected by this scandal, some of whom have had to go through the courts to clear their names, are being forced to relitigate their cases," he added. The committee has made several recommendations to the government with the broad message that every postmaster be made fully aware of the options for claiming compensation. The Department for Business said: "We will consider the recommendations and work with the Post Office, who have already written to over 24,000 postmasters, to ensure that everyone who may be eligible for redress is given the opportunity to apply for it."

Alamy Former sub-postmaster Chris Head said clear it was "clear the system isn't working"

Chris Head, who ran a Post Office in West Boldon, South Tyneside, was wrongly accused of stealing £88,000 and when the criminal investigation against him was dropped, the Post Office later launched a civil case. He said the current compensation processes were not working. "You have Sir Alan Bates, offered less than 50% of his claim… you have other people on the Overturned Convictions Scheme, who are the worst affected people... not been fully compensated. "How can you tell people to come forward, to make a claim when the worst people affected are not being paid?" The long-running public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, which has examined the treatment of thousands of sub-postmasters and sought to establish who was to blame for the wrongful prosecutions, will publish its final report on 8 July.

'No incentive' to recover fraudulent Covid loans

Trump takes victory lap but pitfalls remain

4 hours ago Share Save Anthony Zurcher North America correspondent Share Save

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Aboard Air Force One en route to the Nato summit in the Netherlands, Trump shared a personal text message from a somewhat unlikely source. It was sent by Nato boss Mark Rutte who praised the American president for what he had accomplished in using US bombers to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. "Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, " wrote Rutte in a message the president posted to his Truth Social account. "That was truly extraordinary and something no one else dared to do." Trump has had his differences with Nato in the past, as he's called into doubt the alliance's mutual defence agreement and the military contributions made by other member nations. Rutte addressed that, as well, telling Trump he was "flying into another big success" at the Nato summit, where member nations had agreed to Trump's demand to boost defence spending to 5% of their gross domestic product. "It will be your win," he concluded. Follow latest on ceasefire and reaction

The warm words, and the president's eagerness to share them to the world, illustrated just how much the diplomatic equation in the Middle East and among US allies has changed for Trump. Last week he left the G7 summit in Canada a day early, as conflict raged between Israel and Iran and it appeared increasingly likely the US would join the fight. The Americans attacked Iran's nuclear facilities on Saturday night, but by Tuesday morning the president departed Washington for another international trip, this time with a fragile ceasefire established between the two warring parties. Rutte's text – which a Nato press officer confirmed to the BBC as authentic – dovetails with the accounts provided on and off the record by White House officials. Trump' military strike removed the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons. His actions triggered the ceasefire and ended what he calls the "12 Day War".

Watch: Trump uses expletive in warning to Iran and Israel

His involvement and his pressure – including an angry outburst directed at both sides on Tuesday morning and what the White House called an "exceptionally firm and direct" phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Air Force One – ensured that the ceasefire would hold. Last week, America's allies were anxious. Now, it appears Trump is heading to Europe with the intention of basking in their praise. The outlook, however, is more complicated than that. While the administration touts that the US bombing raid "obliterated" Iran's nuclear research facilities, US military intelligence officials have told American media that the damage is not as severe as the White House has claimed. The country's nuclear programme has probably only been set back by months, according to a preliminary Pentagon intelligence assessment. And the Islamic Republic's stockpile of enriched uranium was not eliminated in the bombings, sources familiar with the report told CBS News. The White House says the assessment is "flat-out wrong" and is "a clear attempt to demean" President Trump. US strikes did not destroy nuclear programme, says Pentagon Questions remain about the quantity and location of Iran's enriched uranium supply – a key component of a nuclear weapon. There are also reports of the existence of an undisclosed and undamaged research facility elsewhere in Iran.

Watch: US strikes against Iran spark protests in North America

While the ceasefire is holding for now, Middle East truces are notoriously tenuous. Iran's leadership has been weakened through two weeks of devastating Israeli attacks and the nation's future is uncertain. One need only look at the long bloody civil war in Syria to see the risks presented when an authoritarian government loses its grip on power. Trump has talked of "love, peace and prosperity" for Iran, but chaos, and regional turmoil, are still a realistic possibility. And although Trump appears to have stopped the two-week Israel-Iran fighting, the wars that Trump inherited and promised to end, in Gaza and Ukraine, rage on. For this White house, however, those appear to be concerns for another day. 'We're exhausted' - how Iranians feel after fragile ceasefire

'We thought it was the end' - Israeli town reels

At the moment, the dire warnings of Trump's domestic critics, particularly within his own party, have proven unfounded. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who had planned to introduce legislation curtailing Trump's use of military force in Iran, has announced he is abandoning that effort for now. That has given Trump the political space to herald what his administration is trumpeting as an unqualified success. Since Trump picked him as his vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance has often sought to add ideological substance to Trump's America First politics. On Tuesday morning, the vice-president took to Truth Social to offer his take on what he said were the three parts of Trump's "foreign policy doctrine". "1) clearly define an American interest; 2) negotiate aggressively to achieve that interest; 3) use overwhelming force if necessary," he wrote.

Video shows air defences over Qatar as Iran attacks US base

Rod Stewart on Glastonbury: 'I wish they wouldn't call it the tea time slot'

24 minutes ago Share Save Mark Savage Music Correspondent Share Save

Mark Allan / BBC Rod Stewart is the first artist to headline Glastonbury and play the Sunday afternoon "legend" slot

"Did you know I can run 100 meters in 19 seconds?" Rod Stewart, Sir Rod Stewart, is boasting about his physical prowess. And why not? At the age of 80, he's still cavorting around the world, playing sold out shows, recording new music and even writing a book about his beloved model train set. This weekend, he'll play the coveted "legends" slot on Glastonbury's Pyramid stage... although the former headliner isn't 100% happy about his billing. "I just wish they wouldn't call it the tea time slot," he complains. "That sounds like pipe and slippers, doesn't it?" He's also persuaded organisers to extend his set, securing an hour-and-a-half slot after initially being offered 75 minutes. "Usually I do well over two hours so there's still a load of songs we won't be able to do," he says. "But we've been working at it. I'm not gonna make any announcements between songs. I'll do one number, shout 'next', and go straight into the next one. "I'm going to get in as many songs I can."

Getty Images The star is affectionately known as "Phyllis", thanks to a nickname coined by Elton John (aka Sharon)

It's not like he's short of choice. Sir Rod has one of the all-time classic songbooks, from early hits with the Faces such as Stay With Me and Ooh La La, to his solo breakthrough with Maggie May, the slick pop of Do Ya Think I'm Sexy and his reinvention as a crooner on songs like Downtown Train and Have I Told You Lately. The last time he played Glastonbury, in 2002, he was viewed as an interloper – sitting awkwardly on the bill beside the likes of The White Stripes, Coldplay and Orbital. At first, "the crowd was wary" of the musician, who "looked to be taking himself too seriously", said the BBC's Ian Youngs in a review of the show. But a peerless setlist of singalongs won them over. By the end of the night, 100,000 people were swaying in time to Sailing as if they were genuinely adrift on the surging tides of the Atlantic. Amazingly, Rod has no memory of it. "I don't remember a thing," he confesses. "I do so many concerts, they all blend into one."

One particular show does stand out, though. On New Year's Eve 1994, Sir Rod played a free gig on Brazil's Copacabana Beach, drawing a crowd of more than three million people. But it wasn't the record-breaking audience that made it memorable. "I was violently sick about an hour before I was supposed to go on," he confesses. "I'd eaten something terrible, and I was in a toilet going, 'huerrrgurkurkbleaggggh' "I didn't think I was going to make it but luckily they got a doctor to sort me out."

Carl De Souza/Shutterstock Rod Stewart last played Glastonbury in 2002, when tickets cost £97 and only 140,000 festivalgoers could access the site.

We're talking to the star about a month before Glastonbury at the Devonshire, a relaxed, old-school boozer just off Picadilly Circus that's become the favoured haunt of everyone from Ed Sheeran to U2. It's a bit too early for a drink, though, so Sir Rod orders up a venti coffee, shooing away an over-eager assistant who attempts to stir in his sugar. He's dressed in a cream jacket and black jeans, which sit above the ankle to show off his box-fresh, zebra-striped trainers. His white shirt is unbuttoned far enough to display a diamond-encrusted necklace with the crest of his beloved football club, Celtic. And then there's the hair. A bleached blonde vista of windswept spikes, so famous that it earned a whole chapter in the singer's autobiography. Steve Marriott of The Small Faces once claimed that Sir Rod achieved this gravity-defying barnet by rubbing mayonnaise into his scalp, then rubbing it with a towel. This, says the musician, is utter "bollocks". "Nah, nah, nah. I used to use sugared hot water, before the days of hair lacquer. And I couldn't afford hair lacquer, anyway." But what really sets Sir Rod apart is that voice. Raspy, soulful, raw and expressive, he's one of rock and roll's best interpretive singers. There's a reason why his covers of Cat Steven's First Cut Is The Deepest or Crazy Horse's I Don't Wanna Talk About It have eclipsed the originals. So it's a surprise to learn that he was discovered not for his vocals, but his harmonica skills. That fateful night in 1964, he'd been at a gig on Twickenham's Eel Pie Island, and was drunkenly playing the riff from Holwin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightnin' while he waited for the train home, when he was overheard by influential blues musician Long John Baldry. "As he described it, he was walking along platform nine when noticed this pile of rubble and clothes with a nose pointing out," Sir Rod recalls. "And that was me playing harmonica." At the time, he "wasn't so sure" about his singing voice. But, with Baldry's encouragement, he started to develop his signature sound. "I wanted to always sound like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, so that's the way I went," he says. "I suppose I was trying to be different from anybody else."

PA Media The singer has more than 60 hit singles, including seven UK number ones, across his back catalogue

Sir Rod began his ascent to stardom with the Jeff Beck Group and the Faces, a boisterous blues-rock outfit heavily inspired by the Rolling Stones – both on and off the stage. They were regularly so drunk he'd forget the words to his own songs, he admits. In the US, the group received a 40-year ban from the Holiday Inn hotel chain after racking up a $11,000 bill (£8,000 – or £54,000 in 2025 money) for trashing their rooms. "We only did it because the Holiday Inns would treat us so badly, like we were the scum of the earth," he says. "So we'd get our own back by smashing the hotels up. One time we actually got a couple of spoons and chiselled through the walls to one another's rooms. "But we used to book in as Fleetwood Mac, so they'd get the blame." How come he never succumbed to drink and drugs, like many of his contemporaries? "I never was a really druggy person, because I played football all the time and I had to be match fit," he says. "I would use the word dabble. I've dabbled in drugs, but not anymore." Perhaps a more destructive force was the singer's womanising. He wrote You're In My Heart for Bond girl Britt Ekland, but they split two years later, due to his persistent unfaithfulness. His marriage to Alana Stewart and relationship with model Kelly Emberg ended the same way. "When it came to beautiful women, I was a tireless seeker of experiences," he wrote in his memoir. "I didn't know how to resist. And also... I thought I could get away with it." He thought he'd settled down after marrying model Rachel Hunter in 1990, but she left him nine years later, saying she felt she had "lost her identity" in the relationship. The split hit Sir Rod hard. "I felt cold all the time," he said. "I took to lying on the sofa in the day, with a blanket over me and holding a hot water bottle against my chest. "I knew then why they call it heartbroken: You can feel it in your heart. I was distracted, almost to the point of madness."

Getty Images Rod Stewart with five of his eight children, and future wife Penny Lancaster at the 2003 American Music Awards

However, since 2007, the star has been happily married to TV presenter / police constable Penny Lancaster, with the couple reportedly renewing their vows in 2023. Last week, they celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary with a trip on the Orient Express from Paris, where they met in 2005, to La Cervara in Portofino, where they held their wedding ceremony, in a medieval monastery. These days, Sir Rod says, family is his priority. "I've got eight kids all together, so sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and see all these messages, Stewart, Stewart, Stewart, Stewart… and it's all the kids. It's just gorgeous." His youngest, Aiden, is now 14, and becoming an historian of his dad's work. "He's gone back and listened to everything I've done, bless him," says the star. "He knows songs that I don't even remember recording!"

Instagram Sir Rod and Penny Lancaster celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary with a trip on the Orient Express