US gas prices hit $4.23 high as Hormuz fears drive oil surge

A Senate committee is poised to advance Trump’s pick as doubts linger over the Fed’s independence and Powell’s futureUS politics live – latest updatesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailKevin Warsh, ​Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, is set to clear a key procedural hurdle on Wednesday, opening ‌the way for him to succeed Jerome Powell in coming weeks amid the White House’s unprecedented efforts to exert control over the world’s most powerful central bank.The Senate banking committee is set to vote at 10am EDT (1400 GMT) to advance Warsh’s nomination to the full Republican-controlled Senate. All 13 Republicans on ​the panel are expected to support Warsh after Thom Tillis, a North Carolina senator, dropped his opposition following the Department of Justice’s ​decision on Friday to end a criminal investigation into Powell that Tillis viewed as a threat to the ⁠Fed’s political independence. Continue reading...

Rise in electricity demand in first quarter of 2026 was moderated by record output from rooftop solarGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore datacentres and warmer conditions helped push electricity demand to record highs in the first three months of the year, according to Australia’s Energy Market Operator, while growth in batteries kept average wholesale prices down.Electricity demand – from households, business and industry – reached record levels of 25GW in Q1 2026, an increase of 1.2% compared with the same quarter last year. Across the grid, this growth was offset by record output from rooftop solar. Continue reading...

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for flag, which appeared on 120-metre Spire in SeptemberWhat goes up must come down – unless it’s a Palestinian flag at the top of Dublin’s tallest monument that no one knows how to remove.The flag appeared on the 120-metre Spire on O’Connell Street last September and for seven months it has defied every proposed measure to take it down. Who installed it and how remains a mystery. Continue reading...

Four years after president’s pledge, his would-be successors are divided on how to tackle rising guerrilla attacksThe landmark 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the largest insurgent army in Latin America succeeded in some ways: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) agreed to lay down their weapons, and the violence that had racked the country was substantially reduced.But the deal alone could not end the decades-long armed conflict for good. Subsequent administrations slow-walked the implementation of the settlement, which was rejected by Farc dissidents and other rebel factions. Continue reading...

Government request follows contingency to stop planes being grounded if Iran war supply shocks continueBusiness live – latest updatesBritish refineries have been asked to maximise jet fuel supply as part of government contingency planning, amid growing fears the Iran war will force planes to be grounded.Energy minister Michael Shanks said the government is closely monitoring UK jet fuel stocks and working with airlines, airports, fuel suppliers and other governments, as carriers face rocketing fuel costs as a result of the conflict. Continue reading...

New lawsuits allege employees urged company to notify authorities months before deadly Tumbler Ridge attackFamilies of seven victims of a mass shooting at a secondary school in British Columbia are suing OpenAI and the company’s CEO for negligence after it failed to alert authorities to the shooter’s troubling conversations with ChatGPT.The lawsuits, filed on Wednesday in a federal court in San Francisco, allege that the violent intentions of the shooter, identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, were well-known to OpenAI. Employees at the company flagged the shooter’s account eight months before the attack and determined that it posed “a credible and specific threat of gun violence against real people”, according to the lawsuit. Continue reading...

Nancy Pexton, 70, stabbed sister Jennifer Abbott, 69, and left her body to decompose in Camden flat for three daysA woman has been found guilty of murdering her sister by slashing her neck before making off with her diamond-encrusted gold Rolex watch.Nancy Pexton stabbed her sibling Jennifer Abbott 10 times and then left her body for three days in her flat in Camden, north London, a court heard. Continue reading...

Monarch’s meeting with president and speech to Congress features on front pages in UK and USKing Charles’s address to the US Congress features on the front pages and websites of many publications on both sides of the Atlantic today. We take a look at how the king’s speech has been interpreted by the UK and US media. Continue reading...

OxyContin maker to be replaced by new company aiming to combat opioid crisis as legal settlement takes effectOxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week’s end, as a sweeping legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect.A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company to resolve a US Department of Justice investigation – a last necessary step to clear the way for the settlement. Continue reading...

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe fined and deported after pleading guilty to immigration and firearms-related offences unrelated to recent shootingThree months after an employee was shot in the back at the Mugabe family home in a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, Robert Mugabe’s youngest son has been fined and ordered to leave South Africa after pleading guilty to two unrelated charges.Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, and his cousin Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze, 33, were initially both charged with attempted murder after the incident on 19 February. Continue reading...

Insolvency firm points to tax rises, staff costs and shaky consumer confidence after number increases to 62,193The number of UK businesses in “critical financial distress” has risen by more than a third over the past year, according to insolvency practitioners, as companies contend with a “slew of increased taxes” and the impact of the Middle East conflict.Hospitality and leisure firms have been faring particularly badly because of shaky consumer confidence, and rising taxes and staff costs, according to research by the restructuring company Begbies Traynor. Continue reading...