Petrol prices on track to top $2 a litre as Bowen sounds death knell for fuel excise relief

• Hamas has conditioned the implementation of a new U.S.-brokered Gaza peace framework on Israel first fulfilling commitments from a previous agreement reached in Sharm el Sheikh last year. • To proceed, Hamas demands that Israel end military operations, withdraw forces to October positions, and increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into the territory.

• The U.S. and Israel are planning joint military strikes targeting energy sites in Iran, with bombing operations potentially continuing throughout the weekend. • These plans were discussed during a cabinet meeting at Camp David, where President Trump reportedly ordered fresh strikes to force the Islamic Republic to surrender.

• The article explores whether a potential breakthrough in Gaza could serve as a catalyst for a historic diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran. • It argues that the interconnected nature of Middle Eastern conflicts means that a durable reduction in violence in Gaza would shift strategic calculations for key regional players, including Tehran, Riyadh, and Cairo.

Greek police throw entire homicide division at trying to explain fate of 38-year-old Elisabeth-Jane RossTwo worlds separated by sheets of corrugated iron: one, a tree-lined road, bordered by a park and the home of Greece’s oldest sports club; the other a wasteland of derelict buildings and graffiti-covered walls in what was once a car park.It is here, on the wrong side of the divide, in Kypseli, a neighbourhood in central Athens, that the body of Elisabeth-Jane Ross was found, inside a suitcase last month. Continue reading...

Exhausted firefighters wage ‘war of attrition’ against blaze that forced 200,000 people from their homes By noon it is time for a break. The temperature is about 35C, the smell of ash, cinders and burnt wood hang acrid in the air. At tables laid out in the shrinking shade on the desiccated grass and sand outside the sports centre in Le Porge, 200 men and a handful of women have gathered. Firefighters, soldiers, police, gendarmes, officials, first aid teams, foresters and volunteers sit elbow to elbow, plates of sausages, steak and potatoes in front of them.The village was evacuated just over 14 hours after the “megafire” – as it has become known in France – broke out 6km away last week. The blaze has consumed 42,000 hectares (104,000 acres) of mainly forestland west of Bordeaux. Though finally contained, there are outbreaks every day, pushing to the limit emergency services and the hundreds of amateurs who have come to their aid. Continue reading...

Exclusive: As wildfires rage, Frank Elderson says more work needed to assess risk from collapse of ecosystem servicesA senior policymaker at the European Central Bank has said the climate emergency and the breakdown of nature poses a dramatically growing risk to the global economy.Frank Elderson, a member of the ECB’s executive board, said the eurozone lender of last resort was stepping up its monitoring of the financial risks linked to the destruction of “ecosystem services”, which are nature-related processes or assets that support human activity. Continue reading...

Two members given ‘stern warnings’ after concert and barred from returning, with band also excluded from performing in Singapore again, say authoritiesBritish trip-hop band Massive Attack has been barred from performing in Singapore after an investigation found two members unfurled a Palestinian flag during a concert, police said.Singapore, known for its tough laws on public speech and assembly, bans the open display of all foreign flags, national emblems or banners without a permit. Continue reading...

Treasury secretary’s notepad, photographed by Reuters on Friday morning, prompts questions over US plansDuring a cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent carelessly revealed plans for the US to buy $5bn-$10bn ⁠in Japanese yen in a scribbled “to do” list left visible to a Reuters photographer.The image, taken over Bessent’s shoulder during a portion of the meeting open to journalists, showed a Camp David notepad with the underscored words “To Do” followed by “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil”. Continue reading...

Indian conglomerate offsets earnings from Carmichael mine to report $340.6m loss, after promising billions in taxes and royaltiesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIndian conglomerate Adani will pay no company tax despite generating almost $1bn in revenue from coal mining in Queensland over the past year.Financial accounts show the Carmichael thermal coal operations used large costs – including production and related party logistics expenses – to offset its $963.5m revenue in the 12 months to 31 March. This resulted in a recorded $340.6m loss for the year, erasing it’s tax bill. Continue reading...

Pup named Roo, who ran away from home, was found curled up next to rail track – and was ‘thrilled’ to be rescuedA two-year-old pitbull who ran away from home braved two days in a dim San Francisco railway tunnel before being rescued.Caltrain operators spotted the pup named Roo on his first day in the tunnel. Looking at the dog’s unmoving body, they had assumed he had been fatally struck by a train, according to a recent social media post from the San Francisco animal care and control shelter. Continue reading...

Bev Craig, the city council leader, succeeds Andy Burnham as mayor, reversing Reform gains in May local electionsLabour has stormed to a decisive victory in the Greater Manchester mayoral byelection, seizing back areas that recently fell to Reform UK and the Greens.Labour’s Bev Craig, the Manchester city council leader, will now succeed Andy Burnham and hold one of the most powerful political positions outside Westminster. Continue reading...