Budget 2026 live: Healey announces £100 energy payment for millions and rise in bank tax

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Chancellor also announces tax relief for business founders, and funding to tackle rough sleeping and ‘new deal for datacentres’

Martin Lewis said that, when he met John Healey this morning, the chancellor said that, having removed standing charges from gas bills, he would also like to get rid of them from electricity bills. Lewis said:

The chancellor said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is ‘trickier’ apparently and will take longer.

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Tommy Robinson found guilty of harassing journalists

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Daily Mail reporters and their families fled homes after far-right activist targeted them over coverage

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been found guilty of harassing two journalists to the point where it caused them fear of violence.

Journalists from the Daily Mail and their family members fled their homes after “bullyboy, intimidatory tactics” were deployed by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon, his trial was told.

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Trump says government to ‘terminate’ Biden-era methane emissions rules

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Critics warn of climate danger as president in Texas claims change will save companies and consumers billions

Donald Trump said his administration is “terminating” Biden-era regulations holding oil and gas companies accountable for large leaks of planet-warming methane during a rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday evening.

“Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers,” Trump said, lifting what he called “crippling regulations on methane that caused prices to skyrocket” for small oil and gas operators. The change would save consumers and energy producers $45bn and unlock 210m barrels of oil, he said, which is equivalent to about 10 days of US petroleum consumption.

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Second fatal train collision this year casts doubt over Spain’s high-speed rail network

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Questions were raised before Toledo crash over rail safety in a country where train travel has surged by 40%

Spain’s high-speed rail network, the most extensive in Europe and the second largest in the world after China, has long ranked as a point of pride in the country. But Wednesday’s deadly crash – the second in nine months – has recast the spotlight on questions about safety.

Officials said at least 64 people were killed on Wednesday morning after two trains collided, leading to the derailment of several carriages. The two trains were carrying 544 passengers.

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Egypt fines prominent editor Lina Attalah and shuts independent news outlet Mada Masr

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Warnings of escalating clampdown on press freedom come after Cairo court convicts Attalah of managing an unlicensed website

Lina Attalah, a prominent Egyptian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, has been released from detention by Egypt’s authorities and had her website ordered to be shut down by a court amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media in the country.

Attalah was taken briefly into custody after a Cairo court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website, prompting fresh international concerns over press freedom in Egypt.

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Menindee Lakes water levels drop to lowest in five years as experts warn of mass fish deaths

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NSW government imposes water restrictions after Menindee water volumes fall below 2021 levels

Water levels at Menindee Lakes in western New South Wales have fallen to their lowest point in five years, prompting the state government to impose upstream water use restrictions as experts warn of potential mass fish deaths over summer.

Combined storage at Menindee Lakes fell below 480 gigalitres earlier this month, the first time since 2021.

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Give UK workers right to know colleagues’ pay to prevent disparities, says watchdog

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EHRC says transparency needed to prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women

Workers should have a legal right to know their colleagues’ pay to help prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women, the UK’s human rights watchdog has said.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) made the recommendation in response to government proposals to overhaul equal pay laws, saying workers deserved a right to transparency if they suspected other staff were being paid more for similar work.

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US teen whose father arranged her marriage to Islamic State fighter convicted for weapons training

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‘You try to leave, it is death,’ Halima Salman testified. Her mother and defense attorneys wept after the verdict

A New York woman whose father took her to Syria as a teenager and arranged her marriage to an Islamic State fighter was convicted on Tuesday of receiving weapons training from the militant group.

Prosecutors said Halima Salman, a US citizen, pledged loyalty to the extremist group and willingly participated in its activities. Jurors were shown a video of her holding an assault rifle, a photo of her with the group’s flag and loving text messages she sent her husband.

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Spain train crash: at least 64 dead after collision in Toledo province

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High-speed service travelling from Madrid to Seville runs into back of another, knocking two carriages off track

At least 64 people have been killed after two high-speed trains collided in Toledo province in central Spain, in the country’s second major train accident this year.

The trains were travelling in the same direction on the line from the Spanish capital, Madrid, to Seville in the south-west of the country. One ran into the tail of the other that had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track. Authorities said the cause of the crash was not yet known.

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RFK Jr assailed over ‘wildly racist tirade’ about Arabs at Michigan campaign stop

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US health secretary falsely claims at Mike Rogers rally that Arabs have never won major prizes in science or literature

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, faced backlash on Wednesday for a “wildly racist tirade” during a campaign stop in Michigan in which he falsely asserted that Arabs never won leading awards in science or literature.

Kennedy was speaking at the Monday night event in Grand Rapids in support of Mike Rogers, the Republican US Senate candidate trailing his Democratic midterms opponent Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim, in polling.

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Australia must recruit hundreds more to crew Aukus submarines, retired admiral warns

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As USS Colorado showcases the program in Perth, Peter Briggs says personnel is just one of the ‘huge issues’ it faces

Australia faces an uphill battle to recruit and train enough naval personnel to serve on submarines planned for the future fleet of nuclear-powered vessels under the controversial $368bn Aukus deal, a retired admiral has warned.

As the Virginia-class submarine USS Colorado arrived at HMAS Stirling south of Perth on Tuesday for a month of routine maintenance and to help build Australian expertise, retired admiral Peter Briggs said more people needed to be enrolled in the navy’s submarine program.

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