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Election battle over pension rise, water powers, Burnham-Trump meeting, Gaza collapse
The state pension rises 3.9% under the triple lock as ministers eye new mayoral powers over water firms, Andy Burnham prepares to meet Trump at the UN amid transatlantic tension, and at least 20 have died in a Gaza City building collapse.
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Photos show widespread damage at US sites from Iranian attacks
Photographs obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS from active military personnel show extensive damage at several US bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait caused by Iranian strikes, with one unnamed service member saying the scale of the damage “hasn’t been communicated to the American public.” The images, which the BBC has not independently verified,…
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JD Vance takes warning shot at Israel as he says Trump willing to ‘part ways’ with Netanyahu
US Vice-President JD Vance has warned that Donald Trump is prepared to “part ways” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if their interests diverge, signalling growing strain between Washington and Jerusalem. Speaking via videoconference to the All-In Summit in Los Angeles, Vance said Trump would not let American Middle East policy become “subservient” to Israel,…
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Inflation up to 3.1% as Piddington votes to secede over asylum housing
Rate rises, pension boost and an Oxfordshire village’s protest secession dominate, alongside US-South Africa visa tensions, a teenager’s Bering Sea survival, Anthropic’s Australian datacentre deal, and rows around Ed Sheeran’s tour and Tony Christie’s dementia.
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Middle East unrest pushes UK diesel prices towards historic peak
The price of diesel in the UK could hit an all-time record within days, the RAC has warned, as fallout from unrest in the Middle East pushes fuel costs higher. The warning has renewed pressure on Chancellor John Healey to act on fuel duty or VAT in next month’s Budget, with rising transport costs already…
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Government braces for tough Budget as inflation climbs to 3.1 per cent
Andy Burnham has warned that “difficult decisions” lie ahead in next month’s Budget after official figures showed UK inflation rising to 3.1% in the year to August, up from 2.9% the month before. Speaking during a visit to Woking, he blamed instability in the Middle East for pushing up prices while insisting the economy remained…
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AWS says wartime damage means some Middle East cloud resources are gone for good
AWS has confirmed that some cloud resources and data hosted in the Middle East have been permanently lost following damage sustained during the recent US-Iran war. The admission means customers who did not migrate their workloads in time following earlier attacks now have no way of recovering data stored exclusively in the affected locations, underlining…
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Saudi Arabia and Houthis Escalate Military Operations as Riyadh Seeks Direct US Intervention
Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement traded major military blows this week, with Riyadh saying it intercepted a Houthi drone near Mecca and the Houthis denying they had targeted Islam’s holiest city, accusing the kingdom of fabrication. The escalation, which also drew in Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and a critical Saudi oil pipeline, prompted…
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British mother remains missing after armed abduction in Malawi
Nusrat Osman, a 47-year-old British mother from Leicester, was abducted by four armed men in Blantyre, Malawi five days ago and remains missing with no contact from the captors. Her family has made a public appeal, but h
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Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour Faces Mass Artist Withdrawal After Macklemore Removal Over Gaza Remarks
Ed Sheeran’s US stadium tour experienced significant disruption when all remaining opening acts withdrew in protest following rapper Macklemore’s removal from the lineup. Macklemore was dropped after delivering pro-Pales