In your briefing today:

📣 Donald Trump says the US and Iran have reached a peace deal that will see the Strait of Hormuz reopened and a shaky ceasefire extended. The US President made the claim in a social media post, who also said the US Navy would end its blockade of Iranian ports. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” he wrote. But further details of the deal were not public at send time. (AP) (See Trump’s social media post)

📣 The UK government is set to announce a ban on social media use for under-16s, making it more difficult for them to use sites including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Facebook, X and YouTube. The proposals will follow Australia’s lead, but go further, with Keir Starmer expected to also include chatbots in the ban, and impose a curfew for older teenagers in a bid to end late-night “doomscrolling”. (Independent)

📣 It was a Saturday of anticipation that bled into a Sunday of celebration as Scotland picked up their first World Cup win in 28 years, and ended up topping their World Cup group. The 1-0 win over Haiti might have been a tense affair, with Scotland far from their best, but few fans cared either in gridlocked Boston or back home.

“On the contrary,” writes Tom English, “in the hours leading up to what turned into a surreally stressful evening as Scotland ground their way to a 1-0 win over Haiti, fans revelled in the traffic delays, inch by inch, yard by yard.” (BBC)

Claude can be your analyst, editor, and strategist.
But most professionals are using it to fix grammar.

These 200+ Claude prompts take it from grammar tool to your most powerful AI work assistant.

Sign up for Superhuman AI and get:

Claim your free prompts

📣 The former Lord Provost of Glasgow has called the race attacks and disorder which have hit the centre of Glasgow in the last week “disgraceful” and an “utter mark against the reputation of the city”. (BBC)

📣 Far fewer offenders could go to jail under SNP reform plans, with only those who pose a risk to the public locked up. (Mail)

📣 First Minister John Swinney is off to Kentucky today to promote the Scottish whisky industry. The whisky and bourbon industries share deep links, because bourbon barrels are used to age some Scotch whiskies. (Scotsman)

📣 The fires that heat the grand Parliament Hall in Edinburgh will no longer be lit for environmental reasons, meaning it will be unusable through the winter. (Scotsman)

📣 Kyiv’s famous 11th-century Dormition Cathedral is on fire after being directly hit by Russian missiles in the latest wave of strikes on the Ukrainian capital. Nine people have been killed, and several injured in the strikes, which Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called a "brutal assault on our people and our heritage". (BBC)

📣 Another attempt to pass assisted dying legislation in England and Wales has been launched, with the MP behind the plan saying she wants to “finish the job”. (BBC)

📣 Britain’s allies are “exchanging nervous glances” as Keir Starmer arrives in the French Alps for the G7 summit: they’re not sure how much longer he’ll be in the job. (Politico)

📣 Internet star and singer Oliver Tree has died in a helicopter crash which killed five others. (Mail)

⚽️ Scotland’s win over Haiti was clearly the standout moment for us in yesterday’s World Cup action.

⚽️ There were some big results for other nations as the opening round continues.

⚽️ Today’s fixtures:

⚽️ All reports suggest Danny Rohl is about to leave Rangers - and that Hearts’ Derek McInnes will step into the hotseat at Ibrox. (Daily Record)

🏎️ An emotional Lewis Hamilton celebrated his win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix by revealing he’d been in a “low place” during his first season at Ferrari. (Sky Sports)

🗣️ There’s a significant by-election this Thursday - and it’s not the one in Makerfield (important as that one is). The race for Stephen Flynn’s old Westminster seat, Aberdeen South, is one to watch: his narrow majority of a little more than 3,000 leaves it vulnerable, and the Conservatives are piling in resources - and visits from leader Kemi Badenoch - to try and win it.

The best analysis I read over the weekend came from Robert Colvile, who went as far as to say Makerfield mania was obscuring the race further north. He reminds us of the startling decline in Aberdeen: it’s one of only two UK cities to see jobs shrink from 2010-23, and it had the sharpest fall in disposable income. All that’s due to the decline in North Sea oil and gas - in part driven by policy from London and Edinburgh.

A Tory win there is unlikely, he concedes. But he sees a new form of politics emerging - more local and niche-driven - and the Conservative performance in the city will tell us a lot about whether Badenoch’s incarnation of the party can perform in this new world. (Sunday Times)

🗣️ What of Makerfield? Observer editor Ceri Thomas headed to what he calls “the most important byelection in a lifetime” to find it has “a strangely lifeless feel”, with both Labour and Reform apparently accepting - and not wanting to upset - a shoo-in Labour win. And then an opinion poll came out showing only a 5% gap between the parties, and “suddenly there was electricity in the air and everything to play for again”. (Observer)

🗣️ Keir Starmer may soften tough targets for electric vehicle sales by 2030, in an attempt to avoid losing thousands of car industry jobs. A plan, first introduced by Boris Johnson’s government in 2020, mandated that 80% of the vehicles sold by 2030 had to be EVs. That target is now likely to be lowered to 50% - although the move will require the backing of the devolved nations, which will inevitably bring a bunfight. It’ll be seen as a defeat for Ed Miliband - and a stay of execution for the internal combustion engine. (Sunday Times)

🗣️ (More) news of Peter Murrell’s purchases: he went on a burst of retail therapy after the SNP lost a third of its Westminster seats in 2017, helping himself to a £4795 Bremont ALT1 World Timer watch. (Sunday Mail)

Meanwhile, there’s a bit of bafflement over Murrell’s behaviour at a charity auction in 2015, when he splashed out an “eye-watering” £4,000 for a pair of his wife’s £290 shoes. (Mail on Sunday)

🗣️ Elvis the Alpaca is on the naughty step after the star of Rowhead Farm in Dollar started “spitting, chasing sheep and lambs [and] jumping on visitors”. And his antics have gone viral after the farm sent out a succinct explanation as to why events were being cancelled: “Elvis is a tw*t at the moment”, they told guests. (Sunday Post)

Sent this by a friend?