The civil servant says he was pressured by No 10 to get Mandelson’s vetting done; the PM says he wasn’t informed. Who emerges most damaged?

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Being hairless on top has never been in style, but r/bald members encourage one another in the face of insecurity

I was sitting in a cafe a few weeks ago when I overheard a rare bit of sunny talk about advances in medicine and technology when a woman said: “Nobody will be bald in the future.” The way she said it made me think of people in the 1950s imagining the 21st century as a world with flying cars, sassy robot maids and no wars; a world where everybody has hair on their heads is possible.

Bald has never exactly been in style, but these days, it feels like going bald is tougher than ever. It can feel lonely watching all those clumps fall out when you’re in the shower. Yes, there have been plenty of advances in hair restoration, and treatments have been proven to help some people avoid getting to the point where they need a doctor to surgically redistribute the follicles from the back to the front of their heads. But it won’t work for everybody, and people will still lose their hair as long as genetics and hormones have a say.

Iran’s goal is to maintain chokehold on the global economy, even as some say it could run out of oil storage by Sunday

• Middle East crisis – live updates
  

Donald Trump’s indefinite shelving of the plan to bomb Iran’s bridges and power stations on Tuesday night is being widely described as leaving the conflict in limbo, but that is anything but the truth.

Pakistan insists the prospect of talks in Islamabad has not evaporated, and positive messages are still being exchanged, but in the meantime the site of kinetic activity has switched from land to sea.

Inspired by David Attenborough’s Secret Garden? Try these easy, enjoyable tips to turn your outdoor space into a sanctuary for wildlife

• Gardening pros on the tools they can’t live without

It’s happening: spring’s stretching and greenness, vibrant and achingly alive. But the last thing your garden needs is to be tidied up in a rush, for soil to be cleared of debris, for rotten, grey, dead and dying bits to be whisked away. For it’s these bits that hold all the life.

So many small things – overwinter insects, larvae, pupae and eggs – are still sleeping or waiting for just a few more warmer days. In our attempt to spruce things up, we often whisk away their homes in hollow stems and under layers of autumn leaves, and then wonder where the birds have gone.

Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up

Steve Green, a boat engineer from Cornwall, was pulled over by the police just before Christmas. He was driving a decrepit-looking VW campervan and towing an even more dilapidated yacht up to Truro. He hadn’t broken any laws, but he admits that Cecil the campervan, which runs on donated chip oil from local pubs and has a crane and a winch on the front, “wasn’t quite what VW intended”.

Green (and Cecil) are on a mission to rid the beautiful hidden creeks of Cornwall’s Helford and Fal rivers of 166 abandoned fibreglass yachts, which are leaking plastic and toxins into the predominantly marine waters. Marine biologists have likened the thousands of shards of fibreglass they have found embedded in the flesh of sea-creatures in areas with wrecks such as these to asbestos, a substance known to have a noxious effect on humans.

Green uses a detachable crane system at the front of his van to move around bags of plastic after they have been weighed. Cecil is upholstered in recycled denim

Thanks to Claudia Winkleman, leggings are now a sleek option if paired with a proper shoe and a smart top

Wait, what? Leggings are back? I seem to remember I confidently killed them off about 10 minutes ago. Sorry about that. Turns out that the global fashion industry is no match for the colossus of modern culture that is Claudia Winkleman. Queen Claudia made black leggings – usually paired with a fancy blouse, or a delicious peacoat, or a sharp thigh-grazing blazer – her Traitors uniform, and now everyone wants to wear them again.

To be clear, the comeback of leggings is not about what you wear to the gym. Fitness wear is still steering towards looser fits. Think yoga pants instead of leggings, waisted running shorts instead of cycling ones. Leggings are back, but as a sleek day-to-night option, to be worn with a proper shoe and a smart top.

Sources say cabinet ministers warned PM against alienating civil service after firing of official over Mandelson scandal

• UK politics live – latest updates

Cabinet ministers have expressed concern about Keir’s Starmer’s decision to sack Olly Robbins as the Foreign Office’s top official over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal as they warned him not to alienate the civil service, sources have told the Guardian.

Several ministers spoke out about the decision to sack Robbins during a gloomy cabinet meeting on Tuesday, according to multiple government sources.

State media says the ships have been transferred to Iran’s coast

• Trump announces ceasefire extension

• Why Trump’s erratic commentary is the real block to an Iran deal

If you’re just joining us, here’s the main news of the day. It is 9.30am in Tehran, 9am in Jerusalem and Beirut, and 2am in Washington DC.

Donald Trump unilaterally said he is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the US military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump made the announcement as ceasefire talks looked increasingly uncertain with a two-week truce set to expire on Wednesday. Both countries had said they were prepared to resume fighting if no deal is reached.

Trump said he would “extend the ceasefire until such time as [Iran’s] proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other”.

Trump later claimed in a Truth Social post that Iran is “collapsing financially” and was losing $500m every day that the strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.

Iran has yet to decide whether to join the negotiations in Pakistan, a foreign ministry spokesman said earlier on Tuesday, and will only take part if Tehran believes the discussions would yield results.

A container ship has reported being fired at by an IRGC gunboat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. The incident occurred 15 nautical miles north-east of Oman. The vessel sustained “heavy damage” to its bridge, the master of the ship said. All crew members were reported as safe.

Shares were mixed in Asia as markets waited to see if the US and Iran may resume talks. Brent crude edged higher to $98.51 a barrel, while US benchmark crude fell 0.4% to $89.29 a barrel.

One person was killed and two others wounded in an Israeli drone strike overnight on the outskirts of al-Jbour in Lebanon’s western Bekaa Valley, Lebanese state media reported. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Friday.

Since the war started, fighting has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran and more than 2,290 in Lebanon, the Associated Press reported. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have been killed.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to prevent oil production in the Middle East if the Islamic republic faced attacks launched from its Gulf neighbours’ territory.

Christopher Trybus, of Swindon, also found not guilty of coercive and controlling behaviour towards Tarryn Baird

A man has been cleared of waging a campaign of domestic abuse and sexual violence on his wife, who went on to take her own life.

Christopher Trybus, 43, was charged with manslaughter, as well as with two counts of rape and coercive and controlling behaviour, but was found not guilty after a seven-week trial at Winchester crown court.

George Robertson says diplomatic tone from White House is at ‘historic low’ and two allies are likely to keep diverging

• UK politics live – latest updates

Britain’s high military dependence on the US is “no longer tenable” and the UK has to become increasingly independent of the special relationship with Washington, a former Nato chief has said.

George Robertson, who last week accused British leaders of a “corrosive complacency” towards defence, said on Wednesday that the traditional allies were diverging over values – and that even after Donald Trump leaves the White House, the separation was likely to continue.