Oil prices rise after drone attacks shut down Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline

• The 11-nation BRICS bloc concluded its 2026 summit without condemning the US-Israel war on Iran. • India worked behind the scenes to secure a final declaration by mediating between the UAE and Iran, who are on opposite sides of the conflict.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with leaders including Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin on Sunday to discuss the growth of the BRICS alliance. • Modi stated that the group has expanded because member countries feel their voices are heard and their experiences are respected.

• Houthi forces in Yemen have advanced their positions, creating a new geopolitical challenge for Gulf states and the United States. • Analyst Fawaz Gerges told Reuters that this move is a game changer that alters the regional balance of power.

• France’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva expressed regret for criticizing U.S. human rights in a social media post. • The diplomatic dispute resulting from the post has delayed the arrival of a new French ambassador in Washington.

STC’s 2027 program also features Celeste Barber in Amy Sedaris and David Sedaris play, Tim Minchin as Scrooge and the return of The Picture of Dorian GraySix years after the Australian historian Jenny Hocking won her legal battle to release secret correspondence between Queen Elizabeth II, Malcolm Fraser and the governor general John Kerr, her fight to reveal the truth about Gough Whitlam’s dismissal is being adapted for the stage.The Palace Letters, announced on Monday as part of Sydney Theatre Company’s 2027 program, will have its world premiere at Sydney Opera House in April. It will star Georgie Parker as Hocking, with Jonathan Biggins playing Whitlam. Continue reading...

US officials reportedly raided envoy’s London home and took him to American airbase without warning Met policeUK politics live – latest updatesBritish ministers face calls to act after US authorities secretly flew out of the UK a diplomat accused of possessing indecent images of children.US officials reportedly raided the diplomat’s London flat last month before taking him to an American airbase and flying him out of the country, without warning the Metropolitan police. Continue reading...

Labour MPs and unions are pressuring the government to legislate for a stricter cap on political party donationsGood morning. This afternoon peers will debate the second reading of the representation of the people bill. If you hear a loud bang echo around the Lords chamber, it will be the sound of stable door being shut after the horse has bolted.At the end of 2024 the Sunday Times carried a report saying that Elon Musk was considering donating $100m to Reform UK. It made a good headline, but the idea seemed so preposterous that no one at Westminster really took it very seriously. Musk is not a British citizen, and so it would have been illegal for him to have given the money directly anyway; he would have had to have donated via UK companies.We’re completely confident that [the Delo and Harborne] donations comply with not only the existing rules, but they also comply with the rules currently going through parliament, albeit with that retrospective element …Unless [Labour] literally try and change the rules again as it’s going through the House of Lords, in which case it would have to go back to the Commons. I mean, anything’s possible with this sort of dictatorship currently ruining the country. You know, we’re the victims of a coup.These donations are made in accordance with the rules and the regulations, and you’ve now got a hyperventilating hypocrisy from the socialists ruining this country, who are trying to change the rules retrospectively, which is it’s not the fair way, it’s not the British way, and I think most people will say ‘does that just mean that Labour are terrified of the progress of Reform and they’re trying to create an unlevel playing field? Continue reading...

Police in Bali believe the two young children died as a result of violence, while a 57-year-old man is believed to have taken his own life Indonesian police are investigating the deaths of three Australians who died in Bali over the weekend, with initial reports suggesting a father killed his two young children before taking his own life.The man, 57 and his two children, aged seven and four, who are also Indonesian citizens, were discovered deceased in a bungalow in Kuta on Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Richard Tice says donations are legally compliant amid speculation on overseas rules proposed by Rycroft reportReform UK’s deputy leader has declined to say when two crypto billionaires who gave a combined £72m to the party returned to the UK, as the architect of a review into overseas donations said anyone here for less than 12 months would be subject to a limit on donations.Richard Tice said that while he was completely confident Reform had complied with all current and proposed laws on donations, he could not say when Ben Delo returned to the UK from Hong Kong, or how much time the Thailand-based Christopher Harborne spent in Britain. Continue reading...

A new public consultation has opened on the 150bn-litre above-ground White Horse project in Abingdon, OxfordshireThames Water has amended the blueprint of a planned mega-reservoir in Oxfordshire as the struggling utility tries to convince regulators that construction should go ahead amid warnings of “catastrophic consequences”.The White Horse reservoir near Abingdon is scheduled to hold 150bn litresof water with a surface area of 6.7 sq km (2.6 sq miles) – almost the same size as Gatwick airport. Continue reading...

Shares in tech firms tumble across Asia with Nasdaq also likely to dip later after Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders back callAI-linked stocks tumbled on Monday after the bosses of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX called for a slowdown in “reckless” development citing fears the technology could soon run out of control.Shares in SoftBank, a Japanese investor that is a big backer of OpenAI, slumped 13%, while the South Korean Kospi stock index, which relies heavily on chip makers that supply AI companies, dropped by 3%. Continue reading...