PARIS (AP) — Gasoline prices are rising largely because of the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial passageway for oil and gas from the Persian Gulf. The waterway off Iran’s coast, now effectively closed, is so vital for the global economy that governments are working on blueprints to speedily reopen it to shipping when the shooting stops.

In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron is leading an international effort to unblock the energy choke point, so that oil, gas and goods could flow freely again “when circumstances permit.” He envisions countries using warships to escort tankers and container vessels through the strait when fighting is less intense, whenever that may be.

Former naval officers who have served in the Hormuz passage say vessels would be sitting ducks, with little room for maneuver in the strait’s narrow shipping lanes, if foreign naval forces attempted to reopen the waterway before a cessation of hostilities.

“In today’s context, sending warships or civilian vessels into the Strait of Hormuz would be suicidal,” French navy retired Vice Adm. Pascal Ausseur said in an interview with The Associated Press.

A ceasefire agreement with Iran “would make the situation shift from suicidal to dangerous. At that point, military ships could be deployed. And then escort operations could begin,” he said.

Here’s a look at how Hormuz might be made navigable again:

Battle-hardened in the Red Sea

French, American, British and other naval crews already have valuable experience of fighting off missiles and drones in the region. They have escorted and defended cargo vessels through attacks in the Red Sea carried out by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

French frigates used machine guns, cannons and sophisticated air-defense missiles to fend off Houthi strikes. French frigate Alsace downed three ballistic missiles in the Red Sea in 2024 as it was escorting a container ship. The ship’s commander at the time, Capt. Jérôme Henry, told the AP that being on the receiving end of the potentially deadly strikes was unnerving and exhausting. The sea battles also took a toll on U.S. Navy ships and personnel.

“There were repeated attacks, either by drones or missiles,” Henry said in an interview. “The crew didn’t get much sleep.”

French retired Vice Adm. Michel Olhagaray, a former head of France’s center for higher military studies, says that “all navies learned a great deal” about working together and escorting ships from their Red Sea missions and have also drawn on Ukraine’s experiences against Russian barrages of missiles and drones during Moscow’s war.

“It would allow us to deploy to that region with fairly refined know-how and a high level of cooperation — and that is extremely important,” said Olhagaray, who commanded a French frigate that patrolled the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Higher risks

Iran is militarily far better equipped than its Houthi proxies in Yemen, which caused considerable damage and disruption in the Red Sea between November 2023 and January 2025. Armed by Iran, the rebels targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two and killing four sailors, and greatly reduced trade flows.

Iran can reach all of the Strait of Hormuz and its approaches with anti-ship cruise missiles that it developed off Chinese-made weapons, according to mapping by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. It can also target vessels with longer-range missiles, drones, fast attack craft and naval mines, which it used during the Iran-Iraq war. U.S. strikes on mine-laying Iranian vessels in this latest conflict underscore the gravity of that danger.

With war raging, the Hormuz passage is “very, very dangerous” and the risks for shipping are “much greater” than in the Red Sea against the Houthis, Olhagaray said.

“The means to counter this threat must be far more substantial and far more effective,” he said. “Before the heat can decrease … most of the offensive installations on land in Iran would have to be eliminated. There would need to be constant monitoring, patrols, extremely close surveillance, and a very high level of intelligence to be able to say that it would be possible to allow tankers to transit, even with military escorts.”

“That will not happen at all — not at all — in the near future.”

Reassuring insurers

Experts say another challenge will be reassuring shipping insurers and companies that navigating in Hormuz waters is feasible again. Insurance premiums for shipping in the strait have soared to levels that France’s transport minister described as “insane,” causing “a big problem” for shippers.

“Maritime traffic is a business. That business has to make money. If insurance costs are so high that you can’t make a profit by sailing through a given area, then you don’t sail through that area,” said Ausseur, now a director of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, a think tank.

Insurance rates for oil tankers that want to transit through Hormuz are many times higher than they were before the war and are approaching levels that have been charged for ships carrying grain from Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia, said Marcus Baker, global head of marine, cargo and logistics for insurance broker and risk adviser Marsh Risk.

Potential naval escorts for commercial ships “would be helpful,” Baker said.

“That’s been done before in conflicts past, so that’s not something unusual and that will obviously give a degree of confidence to the insurers that the vessels are going to have a greater degree of safety,” he said.

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Mae Anderson in New York, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, contributed to this report.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of day two of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, which will have to go some to match the quality of racing on day one. 

The day’s championship race is the Queen Mother Champion Chase, with Willie Mullins-trained Majborough firm favourite. He has the engine to run away from rivals Il Etait Temps and L’Eau du Sud but needs to prove he can execute over hill and dale at Cheltenham. Majborough was well-placed to win last year’s Arkle when he made a shuddering jumping error at the second-last, with Jango Baie flying up the hill to win.

The addition of cheekpieces this season is believed to have settled Majborough’s jumping, and as we saw in the Arkle yesterday, very often the best jumper rather than the speediest horse wins these two-mile chases. They go at a frightening gallop, and jumping is tested to the maximum, making the race a graveyard for favourites in recent years. In five of the last six renewals there has been a beaten odds-on favourite, with Altior the last odds-on shot to prevail.

The day starts with the two-and-a-half-mile Turners Novices’ Hurdle, where the Irish will look to avenge Britain’s 1-2-3-4 in yesterday’s Supreme. Talk the Talk and El Cairos were very disappointing, and over the longer trip Sober, King Rasko Grey, Sortudo and Ballyfad will want to improve on their efforts. They will need to beat favourite No Drama This End, the Challow Hurdle winner about whom Paul Nicholls has been very bullish all season. Much like Majborough, there is a bad omen to lay to rest. Prior to The New Lion last year, the previous 21 winners of the Challow who ran in this race at Cheltenham failed to win; nine finished second or third. Nicholls has also never trained the winner of this race.

Also on the card is the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, where Romeo Coolio takes a significant step up in trip. We also have the ever-competitive Coral Cup (now the BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle), the Grand Annual and the Champion Bumper, a race dominated by Willie Mullins.

Police and CSI remain on Dent Street in Shildon after a man in his 50s died having been attacked on Tuesday (March 10) afternoon.

The victim, who has not yet been named, was initially taken to hospital with serious injuries, from which he later sadly died. A 49-year-old man was last night arrested on suspicion of murder. He remains in custody.

Meanwhile the street remains taped off by police with white-suited forensic officers seen working at the scene. Crime scene investigators (CSI) arrived around 11.20am and were pictured taking photographs of the area.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, told The Northern Echo how he went to leave his home and “opened the gate to find the street had been cordoned off”.

He said: “I tried asking the police what had happened but they would not tell me anything.”

Another added: “When I got back from work around 6pm I noticed the cordon but did not know what it was for.

“It was only when I read the news this morning that I found out what had happened.”

“I don’t normally see police around here so to find out someone has died is a big shock,” one man said.

While some residents said the area has had problems with anti-social behaviour, it is usually fairly quiet.

One said: “You get anti-social behaviour and problems at the bus station with kids throwing rocks at cars.

Officers guarding the scene on Dent Street (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“But for this to have happened has shocked me. You don’t usually get a lot of trouble like that round here.”

Police are expected to remain in the area for some time, and say they are treating the attack as an isolated incident.

Detective Chief Inspector Sharon Alderson, who is leading the investigation, previously said: “We understand that this incident will have caused shock to the community, and our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones during this difficult time.

“While there will be an increased police presence in the area as we carry out our enquiries, I can reassure the community of Shildon that we believe this to be an isolated incident.

“I’d like to thank residents for their support and co-operation while our investigation is carried out.

“A team of officers are currently working to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and we are keen to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident who has not yet spoken to us.”

CSI photographing evidence on Dent Street (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

On Tuesday residents told how the incident unfolded, and police descended on the street..

CSI on Dent Street (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Susan Weston came home from the doctors and found her street full of police. The 56-year-old said: “What I saw out the front was just awful. There was blood. I didn’t want to look.

Both ends of Dent Street were cordoned off by police (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

“Seeing that out the front of my house, I felt sick. I felt shaky.”

Another man said: “You couldn’t move around here for police.

“The air ambulance came over and people were running up and down getting things like gauze. Someone was lifted into the ambulance.”

Anyone with any information is asked to call Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident reference 209 of March 10, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org. 

He appeared via video-link to confirm his name and that he understood the charges

An inmate has appeared in court charged with the murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley in prison. Anthony Russell, 43, appeared by video-link for a hearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court, County Durham, on Wednesday afternoon (March 11).

Wearing a grey sweatshirt and sitting at a table, he spoke only to confirm his name. He said he understood that he will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday. Russell is charged with a single offence of murdering the 52-year-old.

District Judge Steven Hood told him: “The offence of murder can only be heard in the crown court. Therefore I am sending this matter to Newcastle Crown Court and you will appear at Newcastle Crown Court tomorrow morning.

“The reason for that is because in matters such as murder, the magistrates’ court cannot consider anything other than a remand in custody, and the law states that a person must appear within 48 hours before a crown court.”

Huntley was reportedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at maximum security HMP Frankland on February 26. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, where he died on Saturday morning (March 7).

The former school caretaker was serving a life sentence for the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002. Huntley killed the best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4.

He dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away. They were not found for 13 days, despite a search involving hundreds of police officers.

At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school. He denied murdering the girls but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003.

He was jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years. Carr gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice. She is now living under a new identity.

Emergency services were called to Merrington Road at 1.05am on Tuesday, March 3, with dramatic pictures showing the scale of the blaze.

Police and firefighters attended with crews using a hose reel to extinguish the flames. Video from the scene shows the fire being tackled by firefighters, with plumes of smoke being sent into the sky.

One week on, Durham Police has confirmed the investigation into the suspected arson attack remains ongoing.

In an earlier statement, the force said: “Police were called just after 1.05am today to a garage fire at the allotments in Merrington Road, Ferryhill.

“The fire is believed to be suspicious and an investigation is ongoing.”

Dramatic pictures show a huge fire at a garage in Ferryhill (Image: SHAHBAZ ALI KHAN)

A County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) spokesperson added: “We were called at 12.35am today (March 3) to a garage fire on Merrington Road in Ferryhill.

“Two fire engines from Durham and Spennymoor Fire Stations attended and crews wearing breathing apparatus tackled the fire with two hose reels.

“Crews left the scene at 1.42am.”

If TikTok fitness advice is to be believed, you should be interval walking like the Japanese, hanging from a pull-up bar every day and committing to a 75-day challenge with no rest days.

Some of these trends are grounded in scientific research. Others are built on shaky claims or misunderstandings of how the body actually adapts to exercise.

Social media has made fitness advice more accessible than ever. But a review has raised concerns about the accuracy and quality of online fitness content, much of which is produced by creators without relevant qualifications.

So which viral workouts actually hold up when you look at the evidence? Here’s what the science says about four of the most widely shared trends.

Japanese walking

According to an analysis of Google search data, “Japanese walking” saw a 2,968% increase in search interest over the past year. The method is simple: alternate three minutes of brisk walking with three minutes at a gentle pace for around 30 minutes.

What makes this trend unusual is that it’s actually grounded in peer-reviewed research. Developed by researchers at Shinshu University in Japan, a randomised controlled trial studied 246 adults (average age 63). The interval walking group showed significantly greater improvements in thigh muscle strength, aerobic capacity and blood pressure than a steady-pace group. A 2024 review confirmed these benefits hold up across larger populations.

There are caveats, though. In the original study, roughly 22% of participants dropped out of the interval programme – more than in the steady-pace group. And no study has yet linked Japanese walking directly to living longer. We already know that hitting a modest daily step target reduces the risk of death and disease. Japanese walking appears to be a useful upgrade to a regular walking habit – but it’s not the only way to get moving.

75 Hard

The 75 Hard challenge is one of the most widely shared fitness trends on TikTok. The rules: two 45-minute workouts daily (one outdoors), a strict diet, a gallon of water, ten pages of reading and a progress photo – for 75 consecutive days with no rest days.

The no-rest-days rule is the most problematic element. Physiological adaptation to exercise, the process by which your body becomes fitter, doesn’t happen during training. It happens during recovery. Exercise creates a controlled stress; given sufficient rest, the body rebuilds and adapts.

Without it, you accumulate fatigue rather than fitness. A joint consensus statement from the European College of Sport Science and American College of Sports Medicine outlines how sustained overload without adequate recovery can progress to overtraining syndrome: chronic fatigue, declining performance and increased susceptibility to illness and injury.

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75 Hard: what you need to know before taking on this viral fitness challenge

The 90 minutes of daily exercise also far exceeds the World Health Organization’s guideline of 150–300 minutes per week. For someone currently inactive, jumping to 630 minutes a week is a recipe for injury, not transformation.

Dead hangs

Dead hangs (hanging from a pull-up bar for as long as possible) are a fixture of fitness social media. Proponents claim the exercise decompresses the spine, corrects posture and transforms shoulder health. Some of these claims hold up better than others.

The strongest case for dead hangs is grip strength. This might sound unglamorous, but it’s clinically significant. A 2019 narrative review described grip strength as an “indispensable biomarker” for health, with multiple meta-analyses linking weak grip to higher mortality risk. The PURE study, which tracked nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries, found grip strength was a stronger predictor of cardiovascular death than systolic blood pressure.

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What are dead hangs? What are the shoulder pain risks and how do I do them safely?

The “spinal decompression” claims, however, are less convincing. While gravity-based traction can temporarily increase disc height, the spine returns to its normal state once you’re back under gravitational load. No study has shown that brief bouts of hanging produce lasting spinal changes. Dead hangs are a useful exercise, just not for the reasons most often claimed.

Pilates

Pilates was the most-booked workout globally on ClassPass for the third consecutive year, with reservations up 66% from 2024. Research supports its benefits: a systematic review found strong evidence that Pilates improves flexibility and dynamic balance in healthy people, with moderate evidence for muscular endurance.

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Where the evidence falls apart is the claim that Pilates builds “long, lean muscles”, as opposed to “bulky” ones from lifting weights. This is a myth. Muscle length is determined by anatomy, where each muscle’s tendons attach to bone. No form of exercise can change that.

What Pilates can do is improve the range of motion around a joint and build endurance under lower loads. But the “lean versus bulky” framing has no basis in physiology, and risks discouraging people from progressive strength training, which carries substantial benefits for bone density, metabolic health and cardiovascular risk.

Social media has got more people interested in exercise – and that’s genuinely valuable. But viral appeal is not the same as evidence. The principles that actually keep people healthy haven’t changed: build up gradually, allow time to recovery and be sceptical of anything promising dramatic results in an unrealistic timeframe.

Lorna Luxe has shared an update with her fans since the death of her husband John – and revealed details about the ‘beautiful’ funeral held yesterday he would have ‘loved’

Speaking out for the first time since her husband’s death, fashion influencer Lorna Luxe addressed her 1.8 million followers. Lorna Andrews, known online as Lorna Luxe, took a break from social media when her husband John sadly lost his battle to cancer last month, and today shared that the “beautiful” funeral took place yesterday.

The 43-year-old opened up about the send off she and loved ones gave him, and said they had a “humanist” funeral. A non-religious, personalised ceremony that focuses on celebrating the life, personality and legacy instead of a religious one. In the video, she began by saying: “Hiya, how you doing?

“I haven’t spoken to you in so, so long. I was looking back through my archive, I think it was the end of Jan.” She then said she had so many messages from people, and decided to share a video to update.

READ MORE: Lorna Luxe shares message with fans in wake of husband John Andrews’ death

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She said: “We had John’s funeral yesterday and it was beautiful. It really was beautiful. And people that I’d not seen in a very long time turned up. I knew we’d have a good turn out because people loved John. He was very loved.” She then added she was shocked at how many people had turned up.

“I was like ‘wow’ all of these people rocked up, and we’re in the midlands. I was just really touched by that, and yeah, it was a good day. It was good to chat about him and celebrate him. We had a humanist celebration,” and said the ceremony was done by a woman who “captured him in such a way it was almost like she knew him.”

The fashion influencer and businesswoman was left heartbroken after revealing her husband has died aged 64 after a battle with cancer last month.

She regularly updated her followers with his ongoing battle, but sadly said doctors exhausted all available treatment options when the couple were told his illness was terminal.

Their world came crashing down in April 2023 when John, a former banker, received a stage three cancer diagnosis and began chemotherapy treatment. Following a period of remission, Lorna shared the crushing news in May 2024 that the disease had returned with a vengeance, spreading to John’s brain and reappearing in his adrenal gland. The cancer was subsequently upgraded to stage four.

Despite this setback, the couple remained hopeful when John’s oncologist gave him the green light for surgery to remove the tumour from his adrenal gland. However, just days afterwards, John was struck down by a severe migraine and rushed to A&E, where medics uncovered yet another tumour in his brain.

Supporters were heartbroken when Lorna shared the devastating news that John’s cancer had become terminal, with all treatment avenues now exhausted. In a poignant update posted on Instagram, accompanied by footage of the devoted pair, she wrote: “John’s condition has worsened and he was hit with sepsis over Christmas. He’s back home with me now, but we’ve been told his cancer has progressed to other organs so treatment is no longer an option.”

The social media personality revealed that sharing John’s journey publicly has been therapeutic, with encouraging messages from her audience offering “exactly what I needed” throughout this challenging period. “When the chips are down, you just want to see people getting behind you”, Lorna expressed.

“I haven’t got brothers or sisters. I haven’t got a massive family unit. When John was in hospital, I would come home overnight, get myself a glass of wine and I would be sat there replying to all these messages. They were all just full of love, really nice – exactly what I needed at that time.”

It is the start of a huge fortnight for Arsenal in their quest for an unprecedented quadruple and they’ll be keen to take a positive result into next week’s second leg which falls five days before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. William Saliba, Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Gabriel all return, but Martin Odegaard remains sidelined with a knee injury.

A Pentagon probe has found that outdated U.S. targeting data caused an American Tomahawk missile to destroy an Iranian elementary school in the opening hours of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. The findings stand in stark contrast to Trump’s efforts to blame Tehran “or somebody else” for the deadly attack.

Citing U.S. officials familiar with the preliminary findings, the New York Times reported Wednesday that the Feb. 28 hit on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school stemmed from the use of old Defense Intelligence Agency data showing the school building to be part of an adjacent Iranian military base.

The Times said the inaccurate data was provided by the DIA to U.S. Central Command, which created a targeting package for the missile strike that included the school building.

But when asked about the report on his way to Ohio Wednesday, Trump told reporters outside the White House: “I don’t know about it.”

According to Iranian officials, the Tomahawk hit killed more than 175 people, with the vast majority of the dead being children.

Evidence from data analysts reviewing satellite imagery, video footage and social media appears to show the school was hit by a precision strike and may have been hit more than once. Maps from the Department of Defense also appear to show two Iranian air defense targets surrounding the school’s location, which is within what the Pentagon describes as a “U.S./Israeli strikes” zone.

Outside military analysts also have suggested that the Pentagon’s AI-driven targeting — or human error that failed to check whether target maps were up to date — may have played a role in the strikes.

The Pentagon’s preliminary finding that the U.S. is to blame for the strike is unsurprising considering no other country involved in the war fields Tomahawk missiles, but it comes just days after Trump attempted to deflect blame for the attack by suggesting that Iranian forces — which do not possess Tomahawks — had used the cruise missiles to hit the school.

During a press conference on Monday, he claimed he hadn’t seen any evidence that the U.S. was responsible and falsely claimed Iran “has some Tomahawks” even though the cruise missiles are operated exclusively by the U.S. and a few key allies such as the U.K.

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk, is very generic. It’s sold to other countries, but that’s being investigated right now,” he said.

When pressed further on why he’d make such a claim when even Hegseth had refused to go that far, Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

“I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation, but Tomahawks are used by others. As you know, numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us. But I will certainly whatever the report, I’m willing to live with that report,” he said.

When initially asked about the strike last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the U.S. “does not target civilians” and suggested that reports of the death toll were “propaganda” that journalists had “fallen for.”

But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has boasted of ensuring that U.S. forces under his command do not abide by “stupid rules of engagement,” acknowledged the existence of an investigation last Wednesday, days after the missile strike.

The all-girls school at the center of the investigation is located in the city of Minab, roughly 600 miles from Tehran and near the Strait of Hormuz.

According to satellite images, it is located adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base.

Iranian authorities reported initial strikes in the area at roughly 10:45 a.m., with reports emerging from social media at 11:30 a.m. local time Saturday, February 28, which is the beginning of the Iranian workweek, when teachers and students would have been inside the school.

Footage reviewed by BBC Verify showed a man filming the area as he rushes into the school’s courtyard. Four plumes of black smoke can be seen from inside the courtyard. The smoke appears to emerge from the location of nearby strikes, including the IRGC compound.

Satellite imagery taken in the aftermath of the attack appeared to show that multiple precision strikes hit at least six IRGC buildings and the school itself. Four buildings inside a nearby naval base were completely destroyed, and two other buildings showed impact points at the center of their roofs, according to an analysis from The New York Times.

After news of the Pentagon’s preliminary findings emerged Wednesday, a statement from U.S. Central Command warned Iranian civilians to stay away from ports used by the Iranian navy.

The CENTCOM statement said the Iranian government was using civilian port facilities to “conduct military operations that threaten international shipping” in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This dangerous action risks the lives of innocent people. Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law,” the statement said.

Alex Woodward contributed reporting from New York

Some argy-bargy followed the final whistle, with Luis Enrique striking Joao Pedro, but differences can be settled on the banks of the Seine this evening. That match came just eight short months ago but there has been plenty of upheaval at Chelsea since, most notably in the dugout. A tactical masterclass from Enzo Maresca helped the Blues pip the European champions Stateside, and now Liam Rosenior must see if he can repeat the trick against the Ligue 1 champions-elect.