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‘Fragile ceasefire at risk’ and ‘Putin mocks Starmer’

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The headline on the front page of the Guardian reads: “Fragile ceasefire at risk as Israel bombards Lebanon”.

The papers on Thursday focus on the aftermath of the two-week ceasefire deal agreed Wednesday between the US, Israel and Iran. The Guardian says the fate of the deal “looked uncertain last night”, with the sides involved giving “divergent versions of what had been agreed”. The paper features a photograph of a building struck in Lebanon on Wednesday, and reports that Israel has “intensified its bombing campaign” against the nation – Israel and the US have said Lebanon is not included in the ceasefire agreement.



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World Cup 2026: Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture; teams hit back at Ceferin; Iran arrive in US – live | World Cup 2026

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More now on the hand gesture story mentioned earlier. Fifa’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup has called for a video assistant referee to be removed for appearing to make a hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network, a longtime partner of Fifa and Uefa, the European football governing body, to monitor racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games, said in a statement. “Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,” Fare said in a statement, describing the gesture as “neo-Nazi.”

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Man who suffered 'racially-motivated' attack says he regrets moving to NI

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The man said his home has been targeted three times in the last five months.



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European stock markets hit record high and oil price falls to three-month low after US-Iran peace deal – business live | Business

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European stock markets hit record high

European stock markets have hit a record high at the start of trading, as relief over the US-Iran peace deal ripples across global markets.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index has jumped by 0.9% to 639 points, over the previous record high set just before the Iran war started, with shares rising in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan.

Mining and travel companies are driving the rally, while oil company shares are sliding.

That follows sharp gains in Asia-Pacific markets overnight, where Japan’s Nikkei surged by 5% on hopes that the strait of Hormuz will reopen within days.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says global equity markets are starting the week firmly on the front foot after President Trump announced that a deal with Iran had been reached, adding:

double quotation markThe move has given investors a clear reason to dial back some of the geopolitical risk premium that has hung over markets, especially as the Strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen and oil prices move sharply lower.

Energy prices have been one of the clearest transmission channels from Middle East tensions into inflation, bond yields and equity sentiment, and there is likely to be a concerted effort to get prices down even further once this deal is finalised.

There are still details to be ironed out before markets can fully trust the agreement, but for now the direction of travel is clear: lower oil, calmer nerves and a renewed appetite for risk.

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Peace deal should keep mortgage rates down

Mortgage borrowers can breathe a sigh of relief at the news of a peace deal in Iran, says Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.

double quotation markWhile we are far from being out of the woods yet, a lasting peace deal should dramatically reduce the risk of the Bank of England’s worst-case scenario for inflation and interest rates becoming a reality.

“Under that scenario, Base Rate could have risen to 5.25%, potentially pushing typical rates on new mortgages towards 6.75%. Instead, today’s news means mortgages rates, which have already been slowly falling for several weeks, have likely already passed their peak – at least until the next unwelcome crisis.

“Borrowers can be optimistic but with a word of caution, as inflation and economic data will continue to influence the outlook. However, a lasting peace should remove one of the biggest risks to mortgage costs and may help restore a more stable environment for hard-pressed remortgage borrowers and prospective buyers.”

Even before this morning’s drop in UK bond yields (see earlier post), average mortgage rates have dipped slightly.

Moneyfacts reports:

  • The average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.61%. This is down from 5.62% the previous working day.

  • The average 5-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.58%. This is down from 5.59% the previous working day.

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