UK is most vulnerable European country to jet fuel shortages, Ryanair boss says

The UK is the most vulnerable country in Europe to potential jet fuel shortages as the Iran war throttles supplies from the Gulf, the boss of Ryanair has said.Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of the budget airline, said Britain would be the most exposed to jet fuel shortages because it relies on Kuwait for about 25% of its supply.“Of all the European countries at the moment, the one that is most vulnerable is the UK because of the market share that the Kuwaitis have here,” he said. “There could be a surplus of jet A-1 fuel in the Middle East, but you have still got to ship it to Europe and we don’t know when or how that happens.”Airlines around the world have been forced to cancel some flights after the war in Iran triggered a surge in jet fuel prices

Oil tumbles and UK’s FTSE 100 posts biggest daily rise in a year on hopes Middle East war will end soon – as it happened

As the clocks ring noon in the City of London, here’s the situation.European and Asia-Pacific stock markets have rallied sharply, after Donald Trump signalled that the Iran was could end soon.The UK’s FTSE 100 share index is up 1.9% now at 10,369 points, up 192 points to a two-week high.The pan-European Stoxx 600 index is up 2%, with gains in Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan

‘System malfunction’ causes robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China

A “system malfunction” has caused several self-driving robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China, police have confirmed, after distressed riders were stranded for hours.Local authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said they began receiving calls “one after another” on Tuesday night from riders reporting that autonomous vehicles operated by the Chinese internet company Baidu had frozen.“Multiple Apollo Go cars stopped in the middle of the road, unable to move,” police said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to Baidu’s driverless taxi service. “After investigation, preliminary findings suggest the cause was system malfunction.”Baidu has a fleet of more than 500 driverless cars in Wuhan

Unregulated chatbots are putting lives at risk | Letters

Your coverage of AI-associated delusions exposes a gap that training-level guardrails cannot close (Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion, 26 March). As someone who has worked in health systems across fragile and low-income contexts, I find it striking that AI companies have failed to adopt a safeguard that even the most underresourced clinic in the world already uses: screening patients before exposing them to risk.The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale are administered daily in settings with no electricity, limited staff, and patients who may never have seen a doctor. These tools take minutes. They are validated across dozens of languages and cultural contexts

Joyce ‘shocked’ to receive Wales call-up for Women’s Six Nations only months after giving birth

Alisha Joyce returned to the rugby pitch in March just 123 days after giving birth and a week later was named in Wales’s squad for the Women’s Six Nations. The 28‑year‑old says she was “shocked” to get the call-up after welcoming her son, Ralphie, in November but adds it’s “cool” to be a role model for the next generation of players.Joyce was the first Wales player to use the governing body’s new performance maternity programme. The back-row, who shares Ralphie with her wife and teammate Jasmine Joyce, has played only 30 minutes of rugby since returning last month in a game for Brython Thunder where she came off the bench.The call from the Wales head coach, Sean Lynn, was not something she was expecting

Justin Timberlake’s walk-on part back in spotlight as Chelmsford faces closure fears

The oft-troubled history of Chelmsford City racecourse in Essex took its latest turn for the worse on Wednesday when the track lost its licence to host fixtures. This means the cancellation of scheduled meetings including the lucrative Good Friday fixture and putting the long-term future of the venue in serious doubt.There have been enough twists in the Chelmsford saga that Justin Timberlake’s apparent walk-on part in the latest chapter is just one more to add to the list. The singer’s concert at the track on 4 July 2025 led to chaotic scenes when 25,000 fans left afterwards, forcing some to queue for up to four hours and others to abandon their cars and walk along the nearby A131 dual carriageway.A legal action arising from the concert was settled out of court, but the crowd capacity for gigs was lowered and the track’s operator, Great Leighs Estates Limited, went into administration on Monday