Disposable vapes are officially BANNED in the UK as government cracks down on cheap nicotine dispensers commonly littered and sold to children
Around five million disposable vapes were thrown away each week last year rather than being recycled - sparking major environmental concerns as the batteries can leak waste and cause fires.
And a survey commissioned by NHS England last October revealed that around one in ten secondary school pupils were regular users of the devices.
The new legislation means vapes must be considered 'reusable' - through being refillable or having a charging port - or they will be classed as illegal.
Shops have already begun stocking 'rechargeable' versions of vapes which are retailing for the same price as the disposable offerings.
Further moves to raise the age of sale of tobacco products and to regulate the displays, flavours and packaging of reusable vapes are also being taken forward through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Nature minister Mary Creagh was asked on Friday whether the new legislation would be enough and said: 'Well let's bring in the ban first. That's what I would say.'
'I'm confident that my colleagues in the Department of Health will not hesitate to use those powers should what we're doing this weekend not achieve the goals.
'But I'm confident that it is already sparking a conversation among young people, getting them to ask the questions, getting them to understand that there's no such place as "away" and that these are really difficult to recycle.'
She added that most large vapes on the market do not have replaceable coils meaning they will fall within the scope of the ban.
The government is also considering further ways to drive up levels of separately collected electrical waste including vapes as part of reforms to waste electrical and electronic equipment regulations.
Under current rules, vape producers already have a legal responsibility to finance their collection for recycling.
Vapes contain valuable and critical materials such as lithium and copper that are regularly binned in household waste, and if littered, they can cause fires and other damaging or toxic impacts on the environment and wildlife.
Major eco organisations last week called on retailers to make more collection points available for the products.
Director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) John Dunne also called on shop owners to do more.
Mr Dunne said: 'This needs joined-up action from across the waste chain and more effort needs to be done to provide consumers with disposal points at the point of use and not just point of sale.'
He added that while the UKVIA works to educate consumers on sustainable vape use and recycling initiatives 'more needs to be done'.
'We would encourage the Government to launch a national consumer education which includes responsible disposal of vapes, why vaping is much less harmful than smoking, and warning of the dangers of buying non-compliant products from the black market or other irregular sellers.'
According to research by online nicotine retailer, Haypp, 82 per cent of disposable vape users stockpiled ahead of the ban.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, urged shops to comply with the new laws, dubbing vapes a 'blight [on] our streets.'
He added: 'We would also urge caution to anyone stockpiling disposable vapes. Failing to store disposable vapes correctly could cost lives, given the significant fire risk they pose.'
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The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US and Ukraine to work on strengthening air defences, Zelenskyy says, after call Trump says was ‘meaningful'
Update: Date: 2025-07-04T16:36:01.000Z Title: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Content: All-night attack on Kyiv followed conversation between US president and Putin. This live blog is closed Russian drone attack on Kyiv Jakub Krupa and Tom Ambrose (earlier) Fri 4 Jul 2025 18.31 CEST First published on Fri 4 Jul 2025 09.27 CEST From 4.28pm CEST 16:28 Ukrainian president said he spoke with US president Donald Trump about the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defence amid escalating Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. In a brief note about their call, published on Telegram, he said the US president was 'very well informed' about the situation in Ukraine, as the pair discussed 'the possibilities of air defence and agreed that we will work on increasing the protection in the sky.' He said they agreed to hold a separate meeting between their teams on this issue. Zelenskyy added that they also talked about the opportunities for joint arms production, saying 'we are ready for direct projects with America,' as well as potential other joint purchases and investments. The Ukrainian president also passed his best wishes on the US Independence Day, thanking for the US support so far. 'We have done a lot together with America and support all efforts to stop the killings and restore a normal, stable, dignified peace. A decent agreement is needed for peace, and Ukraine supports American proposals,' he said. Updated at 4.30pm CEST 6.31pm CEST 18:31 Jakub Krupa … and on that note, it's a wrap! Donald Trump spoke with Ukraine's president, , on Friday as the US president appears increasingly disheartened over his chances of fulfilling a campaign pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine (9:27). Ukrainian president said the US president was 'very well informed' about the situation in Ukraine, as the pair discussed 'the possibilities of air defence and agreed that we will work on increasing the protection in the sky' (16:28). Germany also earlier said it would look to help with air defence, confirming 'intensitve discussions' on the issue, including on buying the US Patriot defence system for Ukraine (11:57), with chancellor Friedrich Merz also speaking with Trump in the last 24 hours (15:43). The phone call came after Russia struck Kyiv with the highest number of drones and missiles since the start of the war, Ukraine said (9:59), with Polish foreign minister telling Trump in a social media post that Russia's Putin was 'mocking his peace efforts' (11:21). Separately, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a Ukraine summit in the UK on 10 July (13:17). In other news, Only half of young people in France and Spain believe that democracy is the best form of government, with support even lower among their Polish counterparts, a study has found (13:59). A strike by French air traffic controllers entered its second day, leaving many passengers stranded at the start of Europe's peak travel season (14:21). Large parts of the Czech Republic including the capital city of Prague were hit by a major blackout, causing widespread disruption (13:42). The number of people injured in a massive gas explosion at a petrol station in Rome on Friday has risen to 45, with two in a critical condition (16:48). Finland's president Alexander Stubb approved the country's withdrawal from a treaty banning anti-personnel mines, citing a 'deteriorated security situation' and longer-term threat from Russia (14:08). Germany's interior minister plans to host an EU summit to push for stricter rules for the bloc's asylum system in Bavaria on 18 July, a ministry spokesperson said, as the new government seeks to deliver on a campaign pledge (13:46). In Spain, more than 35,000 people have signed onto a petition calling on the government to decree a maximum temperature at which people can work outdoors (13:33). And that's all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at I am also on Bluesky at @ and on X at @jakubkrupa. 6.13pm CEST 18:13 EU and US negotiators will hold final stretch talks through the weekend as Brussels chases a deal before a 9 July deadline to avoid the return of steep tariffs, diplomats said, as reported by AFP. If the European Union does not clinch an agreement with the United States by Wednesday next week, higher levies will snap back in and unleash economic pain on the bloc. During a Friday briefing for member states, a senior EU official told countries there was no deal yet but talks would continue 'likely over the weekend', an EU diplomat told AFP. 5.59pm CEST 17:59 We're now getting a bit more on this developing story with Ukraine saying that a Russian strike hit power line to the plant, causing blackout. 5.47pm CEST 17:47 As we wait to hear from Trump, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has lost all off-site power today. They said it's the 9th time this happened during 'military conflict,' but added that it's only the first time since late 2023. 'The ZNPP currently relies on power from its emergency diesel generators, underlining extremely precarious nuclear safety situation,' it added. AFP noted that the power plant's six reactors are all shut down but the plant requires power to its cooling systems for safety. Updated at 5.54pm CEST 5.19pm CEST 17:19 Ajit Niranjan European capitals scorched by extreme heat this week – such as Berlin, Paris and Madrid – can expect to see twice as many heatwave days by the end of the century, a new analysis from Climate Analytics has found, unless faster action is taken to reduce fossil fuel pollution. Current climate policies are projected to heat the planet by about 2-3C by the end of the century, a level of warming that will translate into a catastrophic worsening of weather extremes. The analysis found annual heatwave days are set to more than double by the end of the century in Paris (to 41 days) and Berlin (to 48 days). In Madrid, they are on track to almost triple (to 57 days). Athens and Rome could expect to see 58 and 61 heatwave days, Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, said it was important that people understood the dangers of overshooting 1.5C of global warming – the level world leaders agreed to aim for by 2100 at a climate conference in Paris 10 years ago – and that they redoubled efforts to cut pollution if it was breached. 'It's doubly disappointing in the same week that European citizens have been losing loved ones to unmanageable heat, that the EU has watered down its own 2040 climate target,' he said. On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed cutting planet-heating pollution by 90% by 2040 but - in a bid to win over reluctant member states - allowed the limited purchase of foreign carbon credits to offset slow action at home. The proposal fell short of recommendations from the EU's own climate science advisors, who had called for a 90-90% target without the use of offsets. 'We need European leadership on this issue now more than ever,' said Hare. 'Watering down commitments is completely the wrong move at the wrong time.' 4.48pm CEST 16:48 Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo The number of people injured in a massive gas explosion at a petrol station in Rome on Friday has risen to 45, with two in a critical condition. Among the wounded are police officers, firefighters and emergency workers who had responded to an earlier, smaller blast triggered when a truck struck a gas pipe. The second explosion, which occurred in the northeast of the capital, was powerful enough to be heard across the city, sending a wave of panic through neighbourhoods. A thick column of smoke was visible from many areas of Rome. The injured were taken to nine hospitals across the city. They include local residents hurt by flying shards from shattered windows. Medical officials said six people were in a 'code red' condition, with two on life support. The critically injured pair suffered burns over 55% and 25% of their bodies, along with inhalation trauma and barotrauma – injuries caused by the force of the air displacement from the blast. Of the 45 injured, 24 are civilians, 12 are police officers, six are firefighters and three are emergency services personnel. Fabio Balzani, who manages a nearby summer camp, told state agency Ansa it was fortunate the explosion happened early in the day. 'It would have been a massacre if the usual 60 children and 120 pool guests had been there,' he said. Early-morning staff and the first children to arrive were evacuated after the initial gas smell was detected. Environmental campaign group Legambiente called for fewer petrol and gas stations in urban areas, warning that extreme summer heat raises the risk of such incidents. Taxpayers' association Federcontribuenti added that 'the facility should not have been placed in that location'. Health authorities issued warnings about the dangers of exposure to Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). 'LPG, a mixture of propane and butane, if inhaled in high concentrations can cause nausea, dizziness, neurological issues, loss of consciousness and, in the most severe cases, asphyxiation,' said the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA). 'Direct contact with the cryogenic liquid can also result in cold burns and serious skin damage.' Local residents were advised to keep windows shut as fumes and ash from the blaze continued to spread through the area. 4.43pm CEST 16:43 Jakub Krupa As we wait to hear from Trump on his call with Zelenskyy, let me bring you updates on that gas explosion in Rome earlier today and on the European heatwave. 4.28pm CEST 16:28 Ukrainian president said he spoke with US president Donald Trump about the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defence amid escalating Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. In a brief note about their call, published on Telegram, he said the US president was 'very well informed' about the situation in Ukraine, as the pair discussed 'the possibilities of air defence and agreed that we will work on increasing the protection in the sky.' He said they agreed to hold a separate meeting between their teams on this issue. Zelenskyy added that they also talked about the opportunities for joint arms production, saying 'we are ready for direct projects with America,' as well as potential other joint purchases and investments. The Ukrainian president also passed his best wishes on the US Independence Day, thanking for the US support so far. 'We have done a lot together with America and support all efforts to stop the killings and restore a normal, stable, dignified peace. A decent agreement is needed for peace, and Ukraine supports American proposals,' he said. Updated at 4.30pm CEST 4.10pm CEST 16:10 Jakub Krupa If and when we hear from Trump or Zelenskyy, I will bring you their comments here immediately. 3.48pm CEST 15:48 Andriy Yermak, the most senior aide to Ukrainian president , said in a brief social media update that the call with Trump was 'a very important and meaningful conversation between the presidents.' 'All details will be available very soon,' he added. 3.43pm CEST 15:43 Meanwhile, German magazine Spiegel reports that German chancellor Friedrich Merz also spoke with US president Donald Trump, discussing the situation in Ukraine and EU-US trade. Spiegel reported that Trump made no commitments during the call, with Germany reportedly calling for more support for Ukraine on air defence. Updated at 3.46pm CEST 2.56pm CEST 14:56 Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, killing one person, injuring at least 23 and damaging buildings across the capital hours after US president Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin, officials said on Friday. Air raid sirens, the whine of kamikaze drones and booming detonations reverberated from early evening until dawn as Russia launched what Ukraine's Air Force said was a total of 539 drones and 11 missiles. Families huddled in underground metro stations for shelter. Acrid smoke hung over the city centre. Kyiv's military administration chief said on Friday afternoon a body had been found in the wreckage of one of the strike sites. Updated at 3.06pm CEST 2.23pm CEST 14:23 Jakub Krupa That brings you up to date on most important things happening in Europe today. Let's go back to Ukraine, as we wait more details on that much anticipated Trump-Zelenskyy call. Updated at 2.24pm CEST 2.21pm CEST 14:21 A strike by French air traffic controllers entered its second day, leaving many passengers stranded at the start of Europe's peak travel season, Reuters reported. Civil aviation agency DGAC told airlines to cancel 40% of flights at the three main Paris airports because of the strike, which the air traffic controllers say is over staff shortages and ageing equipment. Up to half of flights at France's other airports, mostly in the south, were also affected, DGAC added. The Airlines for Europe (A4E) lobby group said late on Thursday that 1,500 flights had been cancelled over the two-day strike, affecting 300,000 passengers and causing cascading delays. 2.08pm CEST 14:08 Finland's president Alexander Stubb approved the country's withdrawal from a treaty banning anti-personnel mines, citing a 'deteriorated security situation' and longer-term threat from Russia, AFP reported. Finnish lawmakers voted to leave the anti-landmine Ottawa Convention in June but the decision needed to be signed by the president. 'Finland is not facing an immediate military threat, but the changes in the operating environment require that we strengthen our defence,' Stubb said in a statement. 'We have a long border with Russia, which is not a party to the Ottawa Agreement. We have seen how Russia wages war today.' AFP noted that Finland's decision will come into effect six months after the country formally notifies the United Nations. Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Poland, also plan to exit the treaty.
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ismail Abdo: Rumba gang leader arrested in Turkey
One of Sweden's most wanted gang leaders, Ismail Abdo, has been arrested in Turkey, the Swedish prosecutor's office said on dual Swedish-Turkish national has an extensive list of drug-related charges against him according to the global police agency, 35-year-old, nicknamed The Strawberry, is a well-known leader of the Rumba crime gang in Sweden. He is accused of orchestrating illegal operations from abroad and has been the subject of an Interpol red notice since last police did not identify him, but confirmed the arrest of a man "suspected of having engaged in serious drug trafficking and inciting serious violent crimes" for many years in Sweden. He was one of 19 people who were arrested during raids in Turkey, where officers seized more than a tonne of drugs, state broadcaster TRT reported. Exactly where the raids took place has not been warrants were issued for a further 21 suspects, of whom 14 were believed to be abroad and three already in custody on other charges. Four are still at large, TRT authorities reportedly seized assets worth around 1.5bn Turkish lira (£27.8m; $38m), including 20 vehicles, bank accounts and 51 real estate violence in Sweden has escalated in recent years, in part because Abdo's former friend, Rawa Majida, is the leader of a rival gang, people have been killed since their deadly turf war began. It entered a new, violent chapter in 2023 when Abdo's mother was murdered in her home in Uppsala, north of the capital, escalation prompted the government to bring in the army to help tackle the surge in gang 2024, Turkish police arrested Abdo during a traffic stop, but released him on bail despite the active Interpol red notice against him - a move which drew criticism from Swedish authorities who were seeking to extradite increase in gang violence that has plagued some of Sweden's biggest cities and spread to quieter suburbs and towns has shattered its reputation as a safe and peaceful year, Sweden's security service, Sapo, accused Iran of recruiting Swedish gang members to carry out attacks on Israeli or Jewish interests. In October, a 13-year-old boy fired shots outside the offices of Israeli tech firm Elbit Systems. Israel's embassies in Sweden and Denmark were also both centre-right governing coalition, which promised to end the gang crime wave when it was elected in 2022, will see Abdo's capture as a win. However the fact that he is also a Turkish citizen could complicate the extradition estimated 14,000 people in Sweden are caught up in criminal gangs, according to a police report last year, and a further 48,000 people are said to be connected to them.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Story of banknotes is full of funny money
If you hold strong views about the design of Britain's banknotes, your moment has come at last. The Bank of England intends to relaunch the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, and in a predictable nod to our populist age, it has appealed to the public for suggestions. Very little, it seems, will be off limits, since the Bank's statement suggests that great historical characters could give way to images of 'food, film, television or sport'. So out will go Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and JMW Turner, and in might come, say, Luke Littler, chicken tikka masala and Adolescence. And to think people doubt the idea of progress in history. • Churchill may be dropped from banknotes for diverse designs As Bank officials are surely aware, though, no conceivable combination will please everybody. Indeed, no less a figure than Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has already condemned the 'Bank of Wokeness' for its 'supine kowtowing to the gods of political correctness'.(this, remember, before a single image has been chosen). Yet even though this story seems like a gift to the permanently outraged community, no venerable tradition is in danger of being sullied, since pictures on banknotes are a modish innovation. Until the late Queen Elizabeth made her debut on March 17, 1960, no British shopper had ever seen a face on a pound note, unless you count the image of Britannia. Indeed, if Sir Jacob wants to take a properly conservative position, he might argue that banknotes themselves are a dangerous innovation. There are suggestions that the ancient Carthaginians issued promissory notes on scraps of leather or parchment, but most historians agree that the first proper paper money originated, inevitably, in China. This was a note called a jiaozi, issued by private merchants in the city of Chengdu some time around the year 1000. Printed in black ink on an early version of paper, jiaozi often showed images of merchants. Each had a different value, depending on the buyer's needs. Over time they became standardised, and eventually the imperial government took over production, stamping notes with seals to prevent counterfeiting. But the problem with paper money, as the Chinese emperors soon discovered, is that it is very tempting to keep printing it. Inflation inevitably followed; then came the first of innumerable currency reforms. Paper money, however, never went away. 'All these pieces of paper,' marvelled the Venetian traveller Marco Polo at the end of the 13th century, 'are issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver … [and] wherever a person may go throughout the Great Khan's dominions he shall find these pieces of paper in use, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold.' By contrast, most European countries were slow to embrace the paper revolution. Although late medieval bankers in Florence and Flanders, such as the Medici, issued promissory notes, it wasn't until 1661 that a central bank, Sweden's entertainingly named Stockholms Banco, issued notes known as kreditivsedlar. Alas, when ordinary Swedes tried to cash in their notes, the bank ran out of money, and after just ten years the whole thing collapsed. There was a lesson there in overpromising and overprinting, though we can all think of finance ministers who never learnt it. What, though, of Britain? The new central banks of England and Scotland issued their first notes in the mid-1690s as part of William III's financial mobilisation to fight the French. Neither had a monopoly, though. English private banks had the right to print their own notes well into the Victorian period, and the very last private banknotes were issued as late as 1921 by the little Somerset bank of Fox, Fowler and Company. As for Scottish banknotes, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank still print their own notes to this day. (But are they legal tender in England? The short answer is no. I look forward to Scottish readers' letters.) Back, though, to the wider story of paper money. Given the Swedish debacle, many people were deeply suspicious of this flimsy substitute for the real thing. And during the early 1790s they gazed in horror at the economic chaos in France, where revolutionary printers were churning out colossal quantities of notes known as assignats. Within just two years of the fall of the Bastille, almost 2.5 billion assignats were in circulation, and all the time the value was plummeting. As food prices rocketed, Jacobin radicals blamed the royal family, aristocratic exiles and British politicians — all implicated, they claimed, in a nefarious conspiracy to debauch France's currency. The chief printer was arrested and executed, while the finance minister, Étienne Clavière, took his own life before he could be dragged to the guillotine. Yet although the assignats were economically disastrous, they did at least look good, with illustrations interweaving eagles, Roman iconography and revolutionary bonnets. By contrast, British banknotes were remarkably plain until the 20th century. Clearly the Bank of England felt no need to show off, preferring to project an image of sobriety, simplicity and solidity. As a result, it was not until 1960 that Bank of England notes displayed the monarch's face, while the first commoner, William Shakespeare, didn't appear until 1970. He was followed by the Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Christopher Wren … and so the faces have changed over the years, leaving us with Churchill, Turner, Austen and Alan Turing today. But who comes next? Most readers will surely agree that the sane choices would be Harold Godwinson, Horatio Nelson, General Gordon and Agatha Christie. Alas, we live in strange times, so who knows whom the Bank will choose? Even the prospect of a John Lennon banknote, which would mark the lowest moment in our history, can't be ruled out. But if the Bank does make such a terrible choice, there is one consolation. Since cash payments now account for barely a tenth of all transactions, most of us will only rarely have to gaze upon the consequences. And if the alternative is to hand over a little portrait of the man who wrote Imagine, the ding of a contactless payment will sound sweeter than ever.
