Category Archives: World News

Damaged Russian tanker carrying natural gas floats into Libyan waters

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Fears of ecological disaster as vessel continues to drift after being struck by suspected drone attack

A severely damaged Russian tanker carrying liquified natural gas that has been adrift in the Mediterranean for two weeks, raising concerns of an ecological disaster, has floated into Libyan waters, Italy’s civil protection agency said on Wednesday.

The Arctic Metagaz was part of a Russian “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions imposed on the country’s oil and gas after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was struck in a suspected drone attack close to Maltese waters earlier this month, causing a huge hole. The crew is believed to have been rescued between Malta and Libya.

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Canada in push for joint G7 and Middle East effort to de-escalate Iran war

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Foreign minister Anita Anand says she has drafted principles to reduce risk of regional spillover and wider shocks

Canada is pushing for a collective G7 and Middle East approach to de-escalating the Iran war, including off ramps that could bring an end to the conflict, the Canadian foreign minister, Anita Anand, has said.

In London to meet the UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, after talks with the her Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, Anand told the Guardian she hoped a G7 meeting chaired by France, this year’s president of the group, might start to build a broader collective approach to the crisis.

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As Trump shows lack of direction on Iran, even Badenoch distances herself

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Steady UK opposition to the war and the US president’s insults mean MPs are finding it easier to point out the obvious

When is a U-turn definitely a U-turn? To the consternation of politicians through the ages, this is rarely something within their control, but decided instead by the herd. And thus it is with Kemi Badnoch over Iran and Donald Trump.

The Conservative leader would very much like it to be known that she had not changed her stance on the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, or on the US president.

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The EU’s Hungary problem won’t be solved even if Viktor Orbán is ousted

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The bloc’s foremost troublemaker could lose April’s election, but the headaches he’s caused will not necessarily disappear with him

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How do you solve a problem like Viktor Orbán? By crossing your fingers and hoping it disappears in just over three weeks’ time. But even if the European Union’s disruptor-in-chief is ousted in elections next month (which is far from certain), Europe’s Hungary problem is unlikely to vanish overnight.

EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for yet another summit that will be at least partly hijacked by Orbán, Hungary’s illiberal prime minister.

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Looking for leverage: China keeps close eye on US politics after summit delay

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Beijing seeks to decipher effect of Iran war on US midterms and best way to apply pressure when Trump meets Xi

The White House said on Wednesday that China had agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as war in the Middle East rages on, complicating the US president’s position at home and abroad.

China has not yet commented on the delay to the highly anticipated trip, in which Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will meet in person for the first time since October. Trump previously said he hoped to delay the trip, originally scheduled to run from 31 March to 2 April, for “five or six weeks”.

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Prosecutors seek more than seven years in jail for son of Norway’s crown princess

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Marius Borg Høiby accused of 39 offences, but denies the most serious charges of four rapes

Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, should receive more than seven years in prison if he is found guilty of 39 offences, including four rapes and assaults, according to prosecutors.

On Wednesday, the penultimate day of the more than six-week-long trial at Oslo district court, the prosecution said it believed that Høiby was guilty of 39 of the 40 offences with which he was charged, which, as well as rape and domestic abuse, include multiple breaches of restraining orders, assault, drug and driving offences.

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Ancient skeleton unearthed in France is latest to be found sitting upright

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Scientists trying to work out why Gauls chose to bury some of their dead in seated position facing west

Children at a primary school in eastern France found a strange attraction next to their playground this week: a skeleton sitting upright, peeking out of a circular pit.

It is the latest in a series of bodies discovered in the city of Dijon that were buried in a seated position facing west.

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Afghans search for loved ones at Kabul rehab centre hit by Pakistani airstrike

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Afghan Taliban government says more than 400 people killed and 265 injured, as Pakistan disputes target of strike

Families and friends of people who were being treated at a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul have continued to search for their loved ones two days after it was bombed by Pakistan, in the deadliest attack so far in the months-long conflict between the two countries.

The Afghan Taliban government has said more than 400 people were killed and 265 others wounded in the airstrike, which took place on Monday night as people and staff at the centre were praying days before the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

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HelloFresh hit by sales slump as people lose appetite for meal kits

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German food delivery firm’s share price has plummeted by 93% since 2021 boom during Covid lockdowns

HelloFresh has reported a sharp decline in sales as the struggling food delivery company battles falling demand after the pandemic-era meal kit boom.

The German company was forced to make 900 UK job cuts last year with the closure of a delivery site in Nuneaton, and the demand for meal kits tumbled as revenue fell by more than 11% during 2025.

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How you walk reveals to others how you are feeling, researchers say

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Study highlights the movements in people’s gait that give away most about their emotional state

A long face is not the only sign that someone is down in the dumps. How people walk is revealing too, particularly the swing of the arms and legs, researchers say.

Scientists asked volunteers to guess people’s emotions from video clips of them walking and found that bigger swings portrayed more aggression while smaller swings implied fear and sadness.

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Europe must prepare for drone strikes by terrorists and criminals, warns Zelenskyy

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Ukraine’s president says mass attacks on civilians are no longer the preserve of a ‘madman like Putin’

European nations should prepare for attacks by non-state actors including criminal networks, terror groups and lone attackers as drone technology advances, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned.

The Ukrainian president said it was no longer just “a wealthy madman like Putin” who could afford mass attacks as he demonstrated the latest technology to British MPs and peers.

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Trump’s threats to ‘take’ Cuba signal rising US pressure as island grapples with power crisis

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National power outage is making life extremely difficult and may force Havana into biggest economic changes in 67 years

Just a few hours after a nationwide electricity blackout struck Cuba, Donald Trump hinted at an even darker future for the island’s rulers.

The country’s entire electricity system had collapsed on Monday afternoon, leaving about 10 million people without power. Emergency teams were still struggling to restore it when the US leader made his latest threat.

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Trump says US does not need Nato after being rebuffed over strait of Hormuz

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Amid escalation of Middle East crisis, US president describes rejection of call for help as a ‘foolish mistake’

Donald Trump has said the United States does not need Nato after being rebuffed by a number of the organisation’s member countries over his appeal for a multi-national naval force to reopen the key strait of Hormuz trade route closed by Iran.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, the US president described the rejection of his calls as a “very foolish mistake”, adding without evidence: “Everyone agrees with us, but they don’t want to help. And we, you know, we as the United States have to remember that because we think it’s pretty shocking.”

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Belgian court sends ex-diplomat, 93, to trial over 1961 murder of Congo leader

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Family of then PM, Patrice Lumumba, welcome decision to charge Étienne Davignon as ‘beginning of a reckoning’

A former Belgian diplomat, 93, should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a Brussels court has ruled.

Étienne Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing, is charged with participation in war crimes.

The illegal transfer of Lumumba and his associates from Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) to Katanga.

The “humiliating and degrading treatment” of the men.

Depriving them of a fair trial.

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Norway to investigate links between Jeffrey Epstein and foreign office

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Prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre says files show sex offender’s connection to those in ‘trusted and central positions’

The Norwegian parliament has voted unanimously to appoint an independent investigative commission to look into connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking before the vote on Tuesday, the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, paid tribute to Epstein’s victims and said that the files released by the US Department of Justice had clearly shown “it is possible to buy and abuse influence if you are rich enough”.

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Rachel Reeves reveals push for fiscal devolution to English regions, says Brexit caused damage, and admits student loan system is ‘broken’ – as it happened

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Chancellor says Brexit may have cost 8% of UK GDP in wide-ranging Mais lecture at Bayes Business School in London which also called for AI push

The number of people in England and Wales falling into insolvency has jumped.

There were 11,609 individual insolvencies registered in England and Wales in February, the Insolvency Service has reported this morning. This was 18% higher than in February 2025 and 6% higher than in January 2026.

The individual insolvencies consisted of 768 bankruptcies, 4,210 debt relief orders (DROs) and 6,631 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of DROs in February 2026 was a record high in the monthly time series going back to their introduction in 2009, exceeding the previous high of 4,185 in August 2025.

The number of IVAs was higher than both January 2026 and the 2025 monthly average. Bankruptcies were 25% higher than in February 2025, although numbers were affected by the clearing of a backlog following the Insolvency Service moving to a new case management system.

Average 2-year fix has risen from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.28% today. It’s highest since April 2025.

Average 5-year fix has risen from 4.95% at the start of March to 5.32% today. It’s highest since February 2025.

“War in the Middle East has added almost £800 to a typical annual mortgage bill in just two weeks, which will be unwelcome news for anyone currently seeking a fixed rate deal.

“The average two-year fixed rate has jumped from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.28% today – its highest level since April 2025. The average five-year fix has risen from 4.95% to 5.32%, now at its highest since February 2025. For a borrower with a £250,000 mortgage over 25 years, that equates to paying £788 more per year on a two-year fix, or £651 more on a five-year deal compared to just a fortnight ago.

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Death of influential Ali Larijani may be bigger loss to Iran than Khamenei

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Security chief had IRGC’s trust despite his differences with hardliners and had huge sway with likes of China and Russia

If confirmed, Israel’s assassination of Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council and one of the linchpins of Iranian politics, would be a devastating body blow to the country and probably a bigger reverse than the loss of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the outset of the war.

In any attempt to decapitate the Iranian leadership, Larijani would always be the prime target, largely because of his ability to straddle so many levels of Iranian politics and his huge personal influence not just in Iran but with foreign states including China and Russia.

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Bentley to cut hundreds of UK jobs amid ‘challenging global market environment’

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Carmaker reduces office-based roles and will not fill vacancies ‘to ensure long-term competitiveness of business’

Bentley is to cut 275 jobs in the UK as the carmaker faces a “challenging global market environment”.

The luxury brand, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, is preparing to launch its first all-electric model but acknowledged it had some work to do to persuade consumers to switch away from internal combustion engine vehicles.

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Man and woman charged with murder of Iranian activist in Canada

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Charges follow discovery of body of Masood Masjoody, who was a critic of the Tehran regime and the exiled shah

Two people have been charged with the murder of an Iranian activist in Canada, in a case which has intensified fears over transnational repression of critics of the regime in Tehran.

Masood Masjoody, a former university maths teacher, went missing in early February in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia. He had been critical of Iran’s theocratic regime and the exiled family of the former shah.

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How Pakistan’s people-led solar boom is easing impact of Middle East energy crisis

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Falling costs and government incentives make solar an attractive option for many, reducing need for gas

After prices of liquefied natural gas surged to record highs after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, millions of people in Pakistan were repeatedly left without electricity. An intense heatwave and gas shortages amid record-breaking prices resulted in power cuts across the country.

But people soon started to realise there was an alternative. The falling costs of solar panels and generous government incentives to feed excess power back to the grid made rooftop solar an attractive option.

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