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Fatih Birol says effect on energy markets of Iran bombings and closure of Hormuz strait not initially understood by world leaders

Doubling tariffs on imported steel will raise cost of the metal when Iran war is already inflating steel and concrete pricesOne of HS2's biggest contractors has warned the government that raising tariffs on foreign steel imports will exacerbate" cost pressures for the UK construction industry, amid growing concern over the 100bn railway's rising budget.Ministers said last week they would double the tariffs on imported steel and slash the amount that can be bought from overseas, in an attempt to save Britain's struggling steelmakers. Continue reading...

From steel to screen, podcasts to defence, Sheffield's economy is diversifying amid a wave of new investmentIt has seen its fair share of Hollywood parties - albeit with a twist. Instead of champagne and caviar it is usually Guinness and scampi fries. Red carpet? There aren't even cushions on the seats.The tiny Sheffield pub, Fagan's, has raised more than a few toasts in the last year as Adolescence, the Netflix hit made by two of its owners, scooped multiple awards at the Emmys and Golden Globes and became one of the world's most-watched dramas. Continue reading...

City hall veteran beats rightwinger Rachida Dati in French capital, while far-right RN fails to win Marseille and Toulon in French local electionsThe Socialist Emmanuel Gregoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former rightwing minister Rachida Dati, with Marine Le Pen's far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) failing to take key cities targeted in Sunday's second round of local elections.Gregoire took a victory bike ride with future councillors in Paris on Sunday night to show that the French capital would continue its pro-cycling and environmental policies. Continue reading...

National leader Christopher Luxon drops in preferred PM stakes with rise in people saying country heading in wrong directionThe personal ratings of New Zealand's prime minister, Christopher Luxon, have dipped, polling shows, as his government's handling of the economy fails to impress voters ahead of the November election.The RNZ-Reid Research poll, released on Monday, also found a growing number of people felt that New Zealand was heading in the wrong direction. Continue reading...

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Cause of the fire that killed Pierce, who had covered the Minnesota hockey team for a decade, is under investigationNHL reporter Jessi Pierce and her three children were killed on Saturday in a weekend house fire in Minnesota, the league announced on its sports website Sunday.Pierce, 37, covered the Minnesota Wild as the correspondent for NHL.com for the past decade. Continue reading...

PM's cost of living champion' calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran warThe government's top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.Richard Walker - a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister's cost of living champion" - said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran's blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe's oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region. Continue reading...

Researchers say lack of sleep could be a factor among young people interacting online for more than three hours a dayChildren who are on social media for more than three hours a day are more likely to develop depression and anxiety as teenagers, according to research.Experts said the impact was likely to be linked to a lack of sleep caused by using social media late at night, and that the link to depression was more pronounced in girls. Continue reading...

Repayments also affect financial stability of nearly half of graduates, according to report by UK bankPeople with student loans who are working towards a home deposit save almost 2,000 less per year than those without the debt, according to a new report by Barclays.The bank also found that 44% of student loan holders claim that repayments limit their ability to build long-term financial stability, while 41% say it prevents them from entering the housing market. Continue reading...

Survey suggests companies willing to hire care-experienced young people but few have changed recruitment processesThousands of young people leaving care in England are being left locked out" of work by employers who say they are open to hiring but make few changes to adapt, a charity has warned.Calling on employers to act on their promises, the Drive Forward Foundation said care leavers were almost three times more likely to be out of work than their peers. Continue reading...

Tehran's response to Trump's threat signals a potentially dangerous escalation as both sides menace sites relied on by millions

Programme is being billed as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a centuryMinisters have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town.The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. Continue reading...

Centre-left Robert Golob and rightwing populist Janez Jana are frontrunners in contest after polarised campaignCampaigners in Slovenia warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country headed to the polls on Sunday, leaving many bracing for the outcome of a vote that has become, in part, a referendum on how the country treats its most marginalised.In Sunday's vote, the prime minister, Robert Golob, of the centre-left Freedom Movement party, faced off against the rightwing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Jana. Continue reading...

If approved on Monday, as expected, Mullin would replace Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired in early MarchDonald Trump's nomination of Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to be the president's next head of homeland security on Sunday advanced toward final confirmation after the US Senate voted 54-37 to limit debate on the appointment.The confirmation vote could come sometime on Monday. If approved, as expected, Mullin would replace Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired from the role of homeland security secretary on 5 March. Continue reading...

Her husband, 19 Kids and Counting's Joseph Duggar, was recently charged in separate case with lewd behavior against a childArkansas police have arrested Kendra Duggar, the wife of reality TV personality Joseph Duggar, on misdemeanor child abuse charges, in the latest scandal to envelop the family featured on TLC's 19 Kids and Counting.Kendra Duggar faces four counts each of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment, according to the Washington county sheriff's office in Arkansas. She has a hearing scheduled for Monday. Continue reading...

Customers told not to eat affected pot and sachet products and to return them to place of purchase for refundSeveral porridge products in the UK have been recalled over a possible mice contamination at their manufacturing site.The British porridge and oat drink brand Moma issued a warning for seven versions of its pots and two of its sachets. Continue reading...

Accusations of intimidation and harassment within UK diaspora including aggressive' and coercive' videos onlineIranians living in the UK have expressed safety concerns to authorities amid heightened tensions linked to the conflict with the US and Israel.Online videos of individuals allegedly being aggressive" and coercing" in London, which is home to one of the UK's largest Iranian communities, have led to some feeling unsafe. Continue reading...

Today show host Savannah Guthrie's family released new statement asking for help in locating missing mother, 84Savannah Guthrie and her family have released a new statement about their missing mother, urging Tucson, Arizona, residents to come forward with potential clues about 84-year old's Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts.In their statement on Sunday, the NBC Today show host and her siblings said: We continue to believe it is Tucsonans, and the greater southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding resolution in this case. Someone knows something. It's possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant." Continue reading...

Inquiry into sexual assault claims did not establish that chief prosecutor's actions amounted to misconduct, judges adviseThe international criminal court's governing body is expected to meet on Monday to assess the advice of a panel of judges who have challenged the findings of an investigation into the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.Last year a UN inquiry into the allegations about Khan's behaviour is understood to have established a factual basis for claims of misconduct against him. The senior British lawyer has been accused by a complainant of sexual abuse. Continue reading...

US president's backing comes as Hungary's PM faces toughest election campaign of 16 years in officeDonald Trump has endorsed Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, who faces his toughest electoral challenge next month since taking power 16 years ago, as Europe's far-right leaders gather for a grand assembly" in Budapest.In a video message, the US president told the national-conservative Cpac Hungary conference in the capital on Saturday that Orban, who has been trailing in the polls behind a centre-right rival for more than a year, was a fantastic guy". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Allowing US tech firm to analyse intelligence in name of tackling fraud raises fresh concerns over privacy

AI analytics firm has become influential in Whitehall, and FCA deal gives it yet more access to data

Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured

Shadow justice secretary had called Trafalgar Square event an act of domination'James Cleverly has said he disagrees with his Conservative frontbench colleague Nick Timothy that public Muslim prayers are an act of domination, as another senior Tory called for the party to respect the right to worship.Kemi Badenoch has defended Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, after he posted images of mass prayer at a Ramadan event on Monday evening in Trafalgar Square, calling it an act of domination" and straight from the Islamist playbook". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Townsville lawyer and former detective Darren Robinson's appointment by attorney general Deb Frecklington has brought back a lot of trauma' for Indigenous community

The phrase should evoke optimism, positive expectations about the future, trust and belonging. That seems almost out of reach in a chaotic worldOne term has already become the well-intentioned weasel word of 2026: social cohesion". A phrase that can be dropped into speeches, inquiries and legislation, its meaning shape-shifts depending on the audience. Is it about glue" or the rule of law? About community resilience or countering fear? Does it mean finding places of real exchange, or shutting up and getting on?Although it has been in the political lexicon for years, the terror attack that targeted Jewish people celebrating Hanukah in Bondi last December brought social cohesion to the fore as an urgent problem to solve. Continue reading...

University polling and focus groups found sharpest increase in those worried about national security was cohort aged 18 to 24Nearly half of Australians believe a foreign military will attack the country within five years, as anxiety over national security issues rises sharply, a new study suggests.The Australian National University's National Security College report found that two-thirds of those polled in 2026, including an increasing number of teenagers and young adults, were worried about national security issues. Continue reading...

Leveraging Australian gas exports to ensure we get oil in return is among the offbeat ideas we could be hearing more about

Heather Danae Lewis who was one of 30 people charged in Minnesota church protest showed she did not attend eventFederal prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a woman accused of participating in a controversial January protest at a Minnesota church after the woman apparently did not attend the event at all.Prosecutors notified a federal judge they intended to drop charges against Heather Danae Lewis, who was one of 30 people charged in connection with an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest that disrupted a service at Cities church in St Paul. Officials have charged the protesters with civil rights crimes, saying they interfered with the right of the congregants at the church to exercise their religious beliefs. The media professional Don Lemon, who was at the event reporting on the protest, was among those charged. Continue reading...

Three cases previously confirmed reclassified by UK Health Security Agency after further testingThe number of confirmed meningitis cases linked to the Kent outbreak has fallen from 23 to 20.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Sunday that three cases previously thought confirmed had been downgraded after further testing. Continue reading...

There are flooding rains in Hawaii, rare snow in Alabama and a severe heatwave in the west coast

Israeli air defence systems fail to intercept projectiles during attacks on southern cities of Arad and Dimona

Leon Panetta calls president naive' over strait of Hormuz closure and says the chickens are coming home to roost'Donald Trump is stuck between a rock and a hard place" after three weeks of war in Iran and sending a message of weakness" to the world, Leon Panetta, a former US defence secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director, has told the Guardian.Panetta, who served in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, recalled that national security officials were always keenly aware of Iran's ability to create an energy crisis by blocking the strait of Hormuz. That very scenario is now unfolding, leaving Trump with no exit strategy beyond wishful thinking. Continue reading...

Steve Reed says UK is not going to be dragged into this war' after Israeli warnings that Iranian missiles could hit Europe

Scott Peyton left the Lafayette, Louisiana, diocese after priest admitted to abusing his son and was excommunicated months laterA Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest molested his son and then was excommunicated from the church entirely by his local bishop is asking global church leaders to inform him of the fate of his appeal against the prelate's decision, something that was supposed to be resolved more than a year earlier.In a letter to the Vatican entity in charge of clerical discipline, a canon - or church - law attorney representing Scott Peyton asserts that his case is nuanced and requires careful consideration". To the extent that the delay reflects such diligence, he is grateful," said the letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), prepared by Dawn Eden Goldstein on 3 February and obtained recently by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Figures seen by the Guardian show the two peers each attended just 1.12% of sessions in past four yearsEvgeny Lebedev's longstanding commitment to being the most relaxed member of the House of Lords has come under threat from another peer, Ian Botham, with both recording identical attendance rates of 1.12% over the past four years.According to Lords records seen by the Guardian, Lebedev and Botham - who were both appointed by Boris Johnson - each managed to make it to seven of the 625 sessions of the upper house that took place from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rebecca Harris promotes latest Crewkerne Gazette skit, created by Joshua Bonehill-Paine who says he is Tory memberThe Conservative party's chief whip has been condemned for promoting AI-generated footage created by a notorious far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes against Jewish people.Rebecca Harris reposted the latest skit by the Crewkerne Gazette, which depicts Kemi Badenoch and her shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, as characters in the gangster film Scarface. Continue reading...

Unpaid carers say they remain in limbo' as DWP continues to pursue discredited repayment billsMPs have threatened to launch a fresh inquiry into the handling of the carers allowance scandal after unpaid carers spoke of being stuck in limbo" by the government's response.The warning came amid concerns over delays in Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to offer redress to tens of thousands of carers who were unfairly issued with overpayment bills based on discredited official guidance. Continue reading...

Electoral alliances expected to play vital role in number of contests including Paris and MarseilleVoting is under way in France in the second round of local elections - seenas a bellwether for next year's presidential race - with cities including Paris and Marseille in the balance and both the radical left and far right hoping for gains.Most of France's 35,000-odd communes elected their councils in the first round last Sunday, but in municipalities where the contest is tighter, including most large urban areas, the second round will be decisive, with electoral alliances playing a key role. Continue reading...

Labor's Peter Malinauskas secures at least 32 seats while Pauline Hanson's party outpolls Liberals and could become de facto oppositionOne Nation will win at least one South Australian lower house seat, and is leading in a handful of others, as the Liberals consider sobering lessons" from Saturday's thumping election loss to Labor.One Nation's electoral success came as federal MP Barnaby Joyce downplayed racism and bigotry accusations against the party before likening a ban on migration from Muslim countries to buying cattle that just don't work". Continue reading...

Cyber experts say influence operations in asymmetric' campaign to intensify moral pressure on US and Israel

Problem-solving', child-focused courts to replace adversarial hearings, with earlier intervention to cut delaysFamily courts are not good enough" and have treated women and children unfairly for decades, a government minister has said.Announcing a major overhaul of the family justice system in England and Wales that will play a central role in rebalancing" the family courts, Alison Levitt said often brutal legal showdowns will be replaced with a problem-solving", child-focused model. Continue reading...

Donald Trump's little excursion' is likely to have long-term effects, from oil prices to inflation to growth, say expertsIn the days after the US and Israel first bombed Iran, financial markets bet the economic fallout from Donald Trump's little excursion" in the Middle East would be short-lived.There are risks from higher oil prices longer term. But this is a tail risk," one US-based fund manger said after the airstrike killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. History has shown time and time again that geopolitical flare-ups like this tend to be short-lived. This one should prove to be no exception.'' Continue reading...

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National referendum is being seen as a de facto confidence vote on the government - and the polls are neck and neckIn the run-up to a referendum in Italy on a government quest to overhaul the judiciary, a campaign flyer circulated online quoting Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, taking aim at judges and feminists. Judges block the deportations of rapists. Where are the feminists? Vote yes - there will not be another opportunity," it read.The flyer, posted on the Facebook page of Meloni's Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist roots, was subsequently removed. But its tone has defined a campaign dominated by inflammatory rhetoric rather than meaningful debate. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedCircling back now to Diego Garcia, Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean - but neither of them hit, according to news reports citing US officials.The Wall Street Journal said one of the missiles failed in flight, and that a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, citing two US officials. It could not be determined if an interception was made, one said. Continue reading...

Energy minister says war on Iran creating uncertain environment' but insists government doing all the preparatory work'

People in hard-hit areas of Oahu and Maui told to evacuate with still more rain expected over the weekendAs Hawaii endures its worst flooding in more than 20 years, officials urged people in hard-hit areas to LEAVE NOW". That warning early on Saturday came after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, and still more was expected over the weekend.Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu's North Shore, a community renowned for its big-wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail. Continue reading...