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Nearly 1,500 ships have been sitting idle in the Persian Gulf for close to five months, trapped since fighting between the US and Iran shut down movement through the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, 2026. Marine scientists now say the real danger from this standoff may not be on these ships at all, it could be growing right beneath them.

A new study in the journal Biological Invasions warns that the hulls of these stranded vessels have turned into breeding grounds for barnacles, mussels, algae and other sea creatures. Led by 24 scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the research says this build-up could trigger what it calls a “bioinvasion super-spreader event” the moment the ships finally start moving again.

The World’s Busiest Bottleneck, Stuck

The Strait of Hormuz isn’t just any stretch of water. It’s the only open-sea exit for oil giants like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE, and it usually carries around $600 billion worth of energy trade every year. Since the war began, roughly 1,500 vessels have been stuck inside the Persian Gulf, with several hundred more waiting it out in the neighbouring Gulf of Oman.
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Gulf of Hormuz’s Underwater Army: A Slimy Situation Underwater

Ships that stay parked in one spot don’t stay clean for long. Scientists call the build-up “biofouling”, a process that starts with a thin film of slime and microorganisms, then thickens into algae, barnacles, mussels and small crustaceans clinging to the hull. The International Maritime Organization says any ship idle for more than 30 days needs urgent hull-cleaning attention. These ships have been sitting for nearly four months, right through the season when marine life grows and breeds the fastest.

Carolyn Tepolt, a biologist at Woods Hole who studies how invasive sea life spreads, points out just how hard these hitchhikers are to get rid of once they settle down. As she put it, “Marine invasive species have profound ecological and economic impacts on coastlines across the globe”.

Burning More Fuel Just to Move

A dirty hull doesn’t just carry unwanted guests, it also drags. Research cited by the IMO shows that even a thin layer of slime can push up a ship’s emissions by 20 to 25 percent. Add a light coating of barnacles, and fuel use can jump by more than 50 percent. Across the shipping industry, roughly one-tenth of all fuel burned is simply spent fighting this drag.

The Mussel That Travelled the World

This isn’t a hypothetical worry. The Asian green mussel, native to the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and common in the Gulf, has already hitched rides on ship hulls to the Caribbean and the South Atlantic, pushing out local mussel species wherever it lands. Clam and worm species have made similar journeys before, damaging port infrastructure and displacing native life in the Atlantic and Pacific.

Divers Are Already Scrubbing Away

Ports across the Gulf aren’t waiting around. Divers are being sent underwater to scrape hulls and propellers clean before ships are allowed to sail out. It isn’t cheap, cleaning a single vessel now costs close to $8,000, a jump of nearly 60 percent, as shipping operators scramble to get their fleets moving again.

From Theory to Reality

The episode has also rattled the insurance world. Justus Heinrich, who heads marine underwriting at Allianz, says the industry always treated chokepoint disasters as something on paper. Now, in his words, “theoretical risks have turned into practical risks.”

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The study’s authors aren’t just sounding an alarm, they’re pushing for action. They want shipping companies, port authorities and regulators to tighten hull-cleaning rules, watch high-risk ports more closely, track vessel movements better and coordinate a rapid response once ships start sailing out. Their strongest recommendation: clean the hulls before departure, not after arrival. Once an invasive species sets up shop on a new coastline, the study notes, it is nearly impossible to remove.

For now, the world’s busiest oil route remains jammed, and somewhere beneath all those anchored hulls, an entirely different kind of traffic is quietly building up, waiting for its own chance to set sail.

R3 has published its latest quarterly business health report for Wals

New company registrations in Wales fell in the second quarter of this suggesting business confidence remains subdued despite a reduction in insolvency-related activity, according to an R3 report.

The latest quarterly business health report from the membership body for insolvency professionals, based on data from Creditsafe, found that 4,922 new companies were registered in Wales during Q2 2026, a 15% decrease on the same period last year (5,796) and an 8% fall compared to the previous quarter (5,330).

While fewer new businesses were launched, the number of Welsh companies entering insolvency-related processes also declined. There were 191 insolvency-related activities in Q2 2026, 22% lower than the same period last year (245 cases) and 10% lower than the previous quarter (212).

More recent figures suggest business pressures have continued, with Insolvency Service statistics showing company insolvencies in England and Wales increased by 5% in July, compared to the previous month, rising to 1,931 cases.

For the UK as a whole company registrations falling by 6% year-on-year to 184,873 in Q2 2026 and by 2% compared to the previous quarter. Insolvency-related activity has also declined nationally by 6% compared with Q2 2025, falling to 6,854 cases.

Bethan Evans, chair of R3 in Wales, said: “The report suggests that while business distress has eased across Wales, many entrepreneurs and business owners are continuing to take a cautious approach to growth and investment.

‘The reduction in insolvency-related activity is encouraging and reflects the resilience shown by many Welsh businesses. However, the significant fall in new company registrations suggests that economic uncertainty continues to influence decisions around starting a new venture.

‘Businesses are still facing a range of pressures, including increased operating costs, ongoing economic uncertainty and changing consumer demand. These challenges can affect confidence and make it harder for firms to plan and invest for the future.”

KANSAS CITY — Foodservice operators are expanding their menus with limited-time dessert offerings.

Yum! Brands subsidiary Taco Bell partnered with ice cream company Salt & Straw to debut two limited-time items. The churro ice cream taco features a waffle cone shell filled with churro ice cream then covered with puffed rice and a dark chocolate-flavored coating. The choco-waffle chiller combines a vanilla ice cream base that is blended with churro crumbles and waffle cone pieces and encased in a crackable chocolatey shell. While the ice cream taco is available at Taco Bell locations nationwide, the chiller is exclusively available at Taco Bell Live Mas Cafes while supplies last.

“Last year’s collaboration showed us how much joy there is in reimagining a nostalgic favorite, and we’re thrilled to work with Salt & Straw to bring a new ice cream taco to Taco Bell restaurants,” said Liz Matthews, global chief food innovation officer at Taco Bell. “The churro ice cream taco builds on everything fans loved about the original collaboration, with a flavor that feels right at home on our menu.”

Southern-inspired chain Zaxbys collaborated with Ferrara brand Nerds to launch the Nerds strawberry milkshake. The LTO features a strawberry milkshake mixed with Nerds candy pieces and toppings like whipped cream, rainbow Nerds and Nerds Gummy Clusters.

“The Nerds brand is such a fan-favorite, iconic candy, and we knew its signature sweet-and-tangy crunch would take our hand-spun strawberry milkshake to a whole new level,” said Patrick Schwing, chief marketing and strategy officer at Zaxbys. “The pairing creates a crave-worthy treat that brings nostalgic candy flavors together with the creamy indulgence of a hand-spun Zaxbys strawberry milkshake.”

Hardee’s, a CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc. subsidiary, introduced a s’mores-inspired menu. The limited-edition items include the s’mores ice cream shake, the s’mores fried pie and a s’mores iced coffee.

“Our new s’mores platform keeps those warm, nostalgic summer moments alive,” said Sarah Breymaier, vice president of brand marketing at Hardee’s.

Here’s a science story that sounds straight out of Greek mythology, except it’s real, and it’s about us. A new study by researchers at Lund University and the University of Sussex suggests that humans, along with every other creature with a backbone, may descend from a tiny worm-like animal that had just one eye, sitting right on top of its head, much like a cyclops.

And that’s not even the strangest part. According to the research, remnants of this ancient “third eye” may still be sitting inside our brains today, in the form of the pineal gland, the organ that helps control our sleep cycle.

Meet Our Cyclops Ancestor

Nearly 600 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even fish existed, a small, worm-like creature lived in the ocean. It didn’t move around much, instead, it stayed in one spot and filtered plankton from the water for food.
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Scientists believe this creature originally had two eyes, or at least two light-sensing patches, like most animals need to judge distance and direction. But because it lived such a still, stationary lifestyle, it simply didn’t need that kind of vision anymore. Over generations, those two eyes faded away.

What it kept instead was a single patch of light-sensitive cells right in the middle of its, a simple “median eye.” This wasn’t sharp enough to see actual images, but it was enough to tell day from night, and which way was up.

So How Did We End Up With Two Eyes Again?

Here’s the twist: millions of years later, descendants of this creature started swimming actively again. Suddenly, spotting food, dodging predators, and sensing direction mattered a lot more, and vision became valuable again.According to the study, evolution didn’t build a fresh pair of eyes from scratch. Instead, it repurposed parts of that old central “cyclops eye” to construct a brand-new pair of image-forming eyes, the ancestors of the eyes humans and other vertebrates use today.

This, researchers say, is why our eyes are built so differently from those of insects or squid. Dan-E Nilsson, professor emeritus in sensory biology at Lund University, explains that our retina actually develops from brain tissue, while in insects and squid, eyes grow from skin cells on the head, a completely different evolutionary path.

The Real Twist: Part of That Ancient Eye Is Still Inside You

Perhaps the most fascinating claim in the study is this: the original cyclops eye never fully disappeared. Researchers believe it survives today as the pineal gland, a small structure deep inside the vertebrate brain.

We no longer use it to see, but it hasn’t stopped reacting to light and dark. The pineal gland produces melatonin, the hormone that makes us feel sleepy at night and alert during the day, helping to regulate our internal body clock.

In many animals, the pineal gland can sense light directly. In humans, our eyes handle that job instead, sending light signals to the brain so melatonin levels can rise and fall on schedule.

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Nilsson sums up the discovery as genuinely startling, noting how strange it is that the part of our brain regulating sleep today can be traced back to a single primitive eye from a creature that lived some 600 million years ago.

This research doesn’t just rewrite a chapter of biology textbooks, it reshapes how scientists understand the origins of the eye and even parts of the brain itself. It suggests that evolution doesn’t always move forward in straight lines; sometimes it takes detours, loses features, and later repurposes old leftover parts for entirely new jobs.

So the next time you feel sleepy after sunset, you might just have a one-eyed ancestor from the ocean floor to thank for it.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told a Pentagon ceremony on Friday that the United States would “never, ever forget” the dead of Sept. 11, 2001, as the country marked 25 years since hijackers flew four airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

“In 25 years, a generation has passed since the terror attacks,” Trump said, reading from teleprompters at the Defense Department memorial for the 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. “Yet time has not dimmed the honour of that day our country came face-to-face with true evil.”

Nearly 3,000 people died that morning. About 2,700 were killed in New York when two planes hit the Twin Towers. Forty passengers and crew died on United Airlines Flight 93 after they fought the hijackers and the jet crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Families, first responders and officials gathered at all three sites. In Lower Manhattan, bells and silences marked the times the South Tower fell (9:59 a.m.), Flight 93 went down (10:03 a.m.) and the North Tower collapsed (10:28 a.m.).

Trump tied remembrance to current fighting. “We were all New Yorkers that day,” he said. “But we’re also all Americans.” He praised troops “working right now to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.”

“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” he said. “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.” On days like Sept. 11, he added, “we learn what a country is truly made of. We’re learning right now what we’re made of, and we have to be strong and we have to be smart.”

He closed by saying the attacks “reminded us of the terrible power of hate” and also showed “the power of the American spirit.” “No one can ever prepare for a day like 9/11. But we can always choose to be the kind of nation the world saw in those days after,” he said. “We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was in ROTC at Princeton when the planes hit, spoke first at the Pentagon and made the same link more bluntly. “Twenty-five years later, America is stronger than ever before,” he said in remarks previewed in ceremony coverage. He described post-2001 wars as “a generation of sacrifice, of valor, selfless and steadfast.” “Even if imperfect, those conflicts were our retribution,” he said.

“There are still enemies who hate us,” Hegseth said. “Every day, enemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home. But we are ever vigilant, especially this place.” Of the campaign against Iran he said: “Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century.”

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser on the day of the attacks, recalled the first report as a possible accident. “I was at my desk at the White House that day when my executive assistant, a young army officer, told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. What a strange accident, I thought.” After the second impact she was moved to a bunker and could not reach Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the Pentagon was hit.

“Behind every name that we recite, there is a story, a life that mattered, a future unfulfilled, a void, a vast empty space in the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague, or a friend,” Rice said. “We come together today to say that they will never be forgotten, and to honour their memory.”

In New York, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris issued statements and Clinton attended the ceremony. Harris said a generation has grown up since the attacks “but our responsibility to remember has not changed.” “We remember the people who went to work that morning and never came home, and we remember the families who have carried their memories every day since,” she said. Clinton said the nightmare cannot be erased, “but we can support the people who have given and lost so much by treating one another with respect.” He also noted those later sickened by toxic dust.

The names of the dead were read again at the National September 11 Memorial, a ritual now older than many of the Americans who watched it. BBC correspondent Nada Tawfik reported that nearly a third of the country is too young to remember the day itself. Clouds blocked the “Way of Light” inside the Oculus transit hall, where two ceiling slits are designed to throw twin beams onto the floor between the first impact and the second collapse. An inscription there reads: “Here the Sun stands at 10:28 am on September 11, completing a wedge of light.”

John Ryan, a retired court officer who lost friends in the towers and the firehouses, sat across the street from the memorial and looked at empty sky. “It was the day that changed the world. The day that changed my life,” he said. He remembered a Friday vigil that week: “That night, everybody stood still. All the cars stopped. Nobody moved. You know, Manhattan, they don’t stop for anything.”

Rich Baktis, who was in high school on Long Island in 2001, said the aftermath — not the morning — is what he wants younger people to know. “Everybody came together, and everybody helped everybody,” he said. That togetherness, he added, was the “best part that came out of that terrible day.”

Gunter Engels, visiting from Belgium, lost a former brother-in-law who worked in the towers and was never found. “The world has never been the same after 9/11,” he said.

At Shanksville, a white marble wall of names faces the flight path of Flight 93, whose passengers are credited with stopping a strike on Washington. The three ceremonies ran on the same clock they have used for a quarter century: impact, collapse, crash, silence. The political overlay was new. The names were not.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has refused to apologise to a rape crisis centre which criticised him for describing rival airlines as “high-fare rapists”.

Speaking to journalists, O’Leary said some people were “desperate to get to Ryanair’s low fares because they can’t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe”.

O’Leary doubled-down on his choice of words when asked about them at the time, and later refused to apologise when the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) wrote to him asking for apology, in a letter seen by the BBC.

Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Harris said it was “clearly an inappropriate use of language” and that O’Leary “should have moved to rectify it”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told UK radio outlet LBC that victims of rape are “not going to be rushing to book tickets with him, let’s be honest”.

O’Leary made the comments on Thursday while talking to journalists ahead of Ryanair’s yearly meeting with shareholders.

Asked by a reporter from the Press Association whether the language was appropriate, he said: “Absolutely.”

“British Airways, Lufthansa, and everybody else’s high fares, I’ll happily offend them on a regular basis,” he added.

Asked whether it would offend sexual assault victims, he said rape was “a terrible crime”.

Following O’Leary’s comments, the DRCC’s chief executive Rachel Morrogh wrote to O’Leary accusing him of trying to get a headline with his comments.

She said the DRCC had received calls from rape victims who were “upset and distressed because of what you said”.

She offered O’Leary training on the impact of sexual violence and urged him to apologise.

“I can’t imagine you would ever use the term so flippantly again if you truly understood [what] it was like to survive rape,” she wrote.

In response, O’Leary said: “I am quite clear that no remarks of mine could possibly trivialise the heinous crime of rape.”

He added that as he had not “trivialised the heinous crime of rape” he would “not be issuing any apology or accepting your offer of training”.

It is not the first time O’Leary has offended people while talking about his business.

In 2004, he reportedly called the owners of Stansted Airport “a bunch of overcharging rapists”, external in a row over airport charges.

He has also previously called some of his own staff “lazy bastards” and once said to passengers looking for a refund “we don’t want to hear your sob stories”.

In June, he said the airline would “reluctantly” stop charging parents to sit next to children after a watchdog investigation was opened, but insisted its previous policy complied with laws.