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In your briefing today:

• The pressure grows on Prince Andrew as Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir is published

• Let’s play future Netflix! Which staggering story would you commission for a real-life documentary?

• Rohl with it… new Rangers manager Danny Rohl says he can live up to expectations

📣 Prince Andrew’s team tried to hire online trolls “to hassle” Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse, while hiding behind the “well-guarded gates” of Balmoral Castle to avoid being served legal papers, according to Giuffre’s posthumous memoir.

Giuffre’s book, Nobody’s Girl, is published today, and contains shocking detail of her abuse at the hands of various people, including Jeffrey Epstein, her family and - it is alleged - Prince Andrew. The Prince continues to deny all the claims made against him. (Guardian)

• The SNP has lodged a parliamentary motion to remove Prince Andrew’s dukedom. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the titles should be stripped without “any further excuses”. (Holyrood)

• Giuffre would see Prince Andrew being stripped of his titles as a victory, according to the ghostwriter of her memoir. (BBC)

• Prince Andrew has not paid rent on his mansion for two decades. (The Times £ has the exclusive) (Mail)

• The Prince was deemed a potential national security risk because of his close links to alleged Chinese spies. (🎁The Telegraph has the exclusive - gift link)

📣 Keir Starmer has accused John Swinney of “insulting the intelligence” of Scots by saying he has a “secret plan” to secure independence if he wins a majority in next year’s Holyrood elections.

Speaking to reporters in Downing Street, the Prime Minister also accused Swinney of “looking for the picture opportunity” after his high-profile talks with Donald Trump on Scotch whisky tariffs. (Mail) (Times £) (Herald £)

• The Prime Minister also gave his biggest hint yet that the Rosebank oil and gas field will be given the go-ahead. (Scotsman)

• Starmer also said “we’ll go after every penny” of the £145 million owed by a firm linked to Michelle Mone (Daily Record)

📣 An extraordinary tale from Airdrie: a young woman has caused a global storm on social media after faking a pregnancy, birth and her baby’s death.

Kira Cousins is accused of wearing a prosthetic bump, holding a fake “gender reveal” and then using a plastic Reborn doll to deceive those closest to her, including family members. (Daily Record)

• Which story would you turn into a Netflix documentary? See below ⬇️

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AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 The Scottish Government faces a £170 million court case today, as waste firm Biffa seeks to sue over the collapse of the bottle return scheme. (BBC)

📣 Relatives driving from the south of England reached a sick relative in Scotland before an ambulance, it’s been claimed. The case has emerged as new data shows a third of ambulances now have a turnaround time of more than an hour at hospital, preventing them from attending other emergencies. (Times £)

📣 Perthshire was rocked by some small earthquakes yesterday: the biggest was a 3.3 magnitude quake with an epicentre in Glen Lyon. (BBC)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Japan’s parliament has elected Sanae Takaichi as the nation’s first female Prime Minister. The ultraconservative Takaichi’s power - and term in office - could be limited, however: her alliance lacks a majority in either house of parliament. (AP)

📣 Pizza Hut is to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites, with the loss of 1,210 jobs, after its parent company fell into administration. However, 64 restuarants will remain open. Industry-watchers said Pizza Hut had pioneered fast food in the UK, but had struggled to remain relevant in recent years. (Sky News)

📣 Nicholas Rossi, the US fugative who fled to Scotland while faking his own death in an attempt to escape accusations of rape, has been jailed for at least five years in Utah. (BBC)

• How the mask slipped during Rossi’s court saga (BBC)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers finally have a new manager (for real, this time): Danny Rohl will be unveiled today on a 2.5 year deal to try and lift the Ibrox club out of its funk. Fans are divided on the news - some wanted a more experienced figure than the young German - while others look at his pedigree, as an assistant with Hansi Flick’s Champions League-winning Bayern Munich, and think: he’ll do fine.

• (From the archive) Jonathan Northcroft’s interview with Rohl, from September, will give Rangers fans some hope. “Fan protests, unpaid wages, logistical farces, a battle over transfers, a relegation dogfight, an owner who rejected a training-ground revamp because he disliked the feng shui … there are more straightforward first management jobs. “A lot of good experience for me,” Röhl quips. “Some people said, ‘If you survived Wednesday then you learnt a lot.’ ”(The Times £)

• Third time lucky for Rangers? (Scotsman)

• Rohl: “I know it’s a demanding club and that’s the reason I’m here.” (Daily Record)

• Charlie Austin worked with Rohl at Southampton - he says the new man will get fans out their seats (in a good way) (The Sun)

• Rangers chiefs: Rohl is “an ambitious coach who shares the club’s hunger for progress and success”. (Herald)

⚽️ The Celtic Fans Collective has warned of further protests to come after throwing balls and organges on the pitch before their 2-0 loss to Dundee on Sunday. (The Sun)

IDEAS
Future Netflix: The Louvre Job, Fall of a President and The Baby That Wasn’t - which documentary would YOU make?

🗣️ Today, a little fun… a trio of stories have crossed The Early Line’s screens in recent days which have provoked the reaction: “that sounds like a Netflix documentary”.

You know the shows: often built around crime, narration-free, lots of setup shots of interviewees taking their seats in a sparcely-lit studio, crime scene footage, exterior shots of unremarkable homes with remarkable secrets, an unbelievable true story played out over an hour.

So read these three show notes for imaginary Netflix documentaries, and vote on which should be filmed. Two, oddly enough, hail from France - we all love a glamorous location. The third… is from Airdrie.

The Early Line can’t promise any will come to pass… but, frankly, would be shocked if at least one didn’t hit our screens in the months ahead.

1. Title: The Louvre Job
   In the heart of Paris, four thieves did what no one thought possible: they broke into the Louvre in broad daylight, armed with chainsaws, and vanished on scooters with millions in royal jewels.
   
   The Louvre Job tells the true story of a seven-minute heist that stunned France and left investigators chasing shadows through the city’s cobbled streets.
   
   With surgical precision - and a cherry-picker - the gang scaled the museum’s iconic façade, smashed their way into the Galerie d’Apollon, and looted jewels once worn by Napoleon and Empress Joséphine.
   
   Alarms blared, tourists screamed, and France’s cultural pride was shattered as priceless crowns and tiaras disappeared into the Paris morning.
   
   Blending cinematic reconstruction, police footage, and insider interviews, The Louvre Job unravels a mystery worthy of The Da Vinci Code — a tale of beauty, greed, and the perfect getaway past the world’s most famous glass pyramid.
   [Read the real story at CNN]
   

2. Title: Sarko: The Fall of a President

   Once hailed as the modern face of French conservatism, Nicolas Sarkozy now faces his most humbling chapter - a five-year prison sentence in Paris’s La Santé prison.
   
   Sarko: The Fall of a President tells the gripping true story of how one of Europe’s most powerful leaders went from commanding the world stage to living under lock and key.

   
   Convicted in connection with an alleged scheme to secure campaign funds from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi ahead of his 2007 election win, Sarkozy maintained his innocence and vowed to “sleep in prison with his head held high.”
   
   Through rare interviews, political insight, and unseen footage, this documentary explores the web of influence, ambition, and denial that defined his rise - and precipitated his downfall.

   
   A story of pride, politics, and justice colliding, Sarko asks: when power fades, what remains: reputation, redemption, or ruin?
   [Read the real story at EuroNews]
   

3. Title: The Baby That Wasn’t 
   In a quiet Scottish town, an extraordinary lie gripped a community - a young woman claimed to give birth to a daughter named Bonnie-Leigh.
   
   There were baby scans, a gender reveal, hospital updates, even posts about complications. Friends and family bought gifts, cried tears of joy, and celebrated the “birth.”
   
   But the baby was never real.
   
   The Baby That Wasn’t unravels the bizarre true story of Kira Cousins, a 22-year-old from Airdrie accused of faking her pregnancy and passing off a lifelike doll as her newborn.
   
   Drawing on social-media videos, exclusive interviews, and testimony from those she deceived, this chilling documentary explores how one woman’s elaborate fabrication spiralled into national headlines.
   
   Set in a world of online oversharing and digital performance, The Baby That Wasn’t examines the fine line between identity and illusion - and what happens when a lie becomes a life.
   [Read the real story at the Daily Record]

👍 That’s your Early Line for the day

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