Iran and the US "find themselves in a familiar predicament", North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher writes, with a blockade once again in place in the Strait of Hormuz, the two sides exchanging fire for the fourth day in a row, and Trump threatening to strike Iran's bridges and power plants next week if it doesn't return to talks. The US president's comments came after he reversed a threat of a 20% fee on all cargo shipping in the strait. This about-face is "the latest evidence" that Trump is "searching for unorthodox ways out of a difficult position", Anthony writes. With the memorandum of understanding "in tatters, the ceasefire ended and the prospect of further conflict looming, the end of the Iran war appears no closer", he notes.

For weeks, rumours of a "bloodbath" of job losses and studio closures circulated at Xbox. Then an announcement came - 3,200 jobs, an estimated 20% of the console-maker's staff, were being let go. Half immediately, and the rest over the next year. "We did not expect the scale of layoffs... we're stunned," one game designer told the BBC. Xbox leadership has said the cuts are needed for future success, while it focuses on its biggest blockbuster titles, but former employees say decades of talent and experience have been axed, and question whether the company will be able to achieve its aim of "a bigger future".