Trump faces calls for windfall tax on big oil’s profits from Iran war

• Gulf monarchies are shifting their strategy toward Iran from direct confrontation to "strategic containment," aiming to limit Tehran's regional influence without triggering a total state collapse. • This shift follows over 40 years of zero-sum rivalry characterized by Iran's nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile development, and support for non-state armed actors.

• Pakistan has offered to host renewed diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Iran in Islamabad to facilitate a resolution to their ongoing tensions. • This move signals a strategic shift for Islamabad, which is attempting to transition from a reactive player to a responsible stakeholder in regional stability.

Met police say charge relates to alleged assault that reportedly took place in December at venue in LondonThe England striker Ivan Toney has been charged with assault after an incident at a nightclub in Soho.The Metropolitan police said Ivan Toney, 30, of Northampton, was charged on 31 July with assault causing actual bodily harm. Continue reading...

Property prices in ‘suspended animation’ owing to higher mortgage rates and uncertainty in Middle EastBusiness live – latest updatesUK house prices were broadly stagnant in July as prospective buyers were squeezed by higher mortgage rates, uncertainty around the Middle East and stretched affordability, according to the lender Lloyds.The average property cost £299,253 in July, down by £143 compared with June, the bank’s monthly index found. Continue reading...

More than double number of arrests made since 2024 compared with previous two-year periodPrimary schools in England should be required to identify children at risk of leaving education at 16 without finding a job, a government review is to recommend.Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into Britain’s crisis in youth worklessness, said he would call for sweeping changes in education policy alongside a shake-up of the benefits system to address the problem. Continue reading...

Move to raise levy on goods made with polysilicon aims to protect domestic US supply chains from China, the major producerDonald Trump has ordered a new 15% tariff on imported products made of polysilicon, an important ingredient in microchip manufacturing that is primarily produced by China.The new tariff, which will take effect on 4 December, is aimed at supporting US chip and solar panel supply chains to compete with Beijing on artificial intelligence and energy. Continue reading...

The curator of Norway’s national museum in Oslo stumbled upon is bringing the work by the Flemish baroque artist Clara Peeters out of obscurity in a major exhibition of female artistsAnonymous was often a woman: so said Virginia Woolf. And so thought Cynthia Osiecki one day in 2022, when she chanced on an unattributed still life in the storage area of the National Museum of Norway in Oslo.Osiecki had been studying the work of a renowned 17th-century Flemish artist, Clara Peeters, one of the earliest practitioners of still life painting. Works by Peeters hang in the Prado in Madrid, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Continue reading...

At least 15 other people injured after student ⁠opened fire at Debsirin Nonthaburi school, north of BangkokThailand school shooting – latest updatesA Thai teenager killed at least six people and himself at a school outside Bangkok, after fatally shooting his grandparents, in the country’s worst mass shooting since 2022.Seven people ⁠were ⁠killed in the attack and 15 were wounded, ‌Thai police ⁠said on Friday. Continue reading...

As Abelardo de la Espriella takes office as president vowing a new military offensive, the country’s last leftwing rebels are getting ready to fight backAs the boat approached the riverbank, camouflaged figures watched from the tree line.Behind them, in the dim understory of the jungle, a commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN) sat with his rifle on his lap, amid the buzz and whine of insects and the thwacks of machetes on bamboo as his troops set up camp, hidden from enemy drones. Continue reading...

Disruption after power failure at regional signalling centre likely to continue until noon with many crews and trains in wrong locationsBusiness live – latest updatesRail passengers are facing a second day of travel disruption across parts of north-west England, after a power failure hit the signalling centre controlling the railway in the region.The power failure, which occurred shortly before 2pm on Thursday, triggered widespread cancellations and delays to services including CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway. Continue reading...

With the debate over prison overcrowding and what to do about it raging, one initiative offers an alternative solutionAs the prison overcrowding crisis shows no sign of abating and the debate rages over early releases, an initiative in the West Midlands offers an alternative to custodial sentences.The Guardian was offered rare access to the project, under which, instead of being sent to prison, convicted offenders work on the improvement of waterways and green spaces around Smethwick. It is a small part of the community payback scheme, which in total clocked up an estimated 5m hours across England and Wales in the last year. Continue reading...