World

Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor and major political donor, has told The Guardian he is "no longer" interested in a pact between Reform UK and the Conservative party ahead of the next general election, following his £12m donation to Reform. In an emailed statement, Harborne clarified: "In the past this was possibly the case, but it is no longer the case." This marks a significant shift from earlier discussions where sources indicated Harborne had urged Nigel Farage to remain open to such a collaboration.

The operation carried out by former US President Donald Trump's administration in Venezuela – ousting leader Nicolás Maduro through special forces and installing US-loyal Delcy Rodríguez in his place – is now being considered as a potential model for Iran. Trump has allegedly expressed his desire to be involved in selecting Iran's next leader in recent interviews, a move that experts assess as highly impractical and difficult to implement.

The conflict with Iran has pushed oil prices above $90 a barrel, marking the highest weekly gains since the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago and threatening a fresh surge in global inflation. Reports that Kuwait had begun cutting oil production at some fields due to a lack of storage space drove the cost of Brent crude to as high as $91.89 at one point on Friday – its highest since April 2024 and a sharp increase from about $72.50 just before the war broke out.

Israel and the United States have bombarded Iran and Lebanon with a new wave of airstrikes and threatened a significant escalation in their joint offensive, as Iran retaliated with further attacks across a broad swathe of the Middle East. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that US firepower was "about to surge dramatically" with the deployment of additional bombers, while Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stated that Israel is moving to a new phase of its offensive that would "further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities". Zamir added, "We have additional surprises ahead which I do not intend to disclose," highlighting the unpredictable nature of the conflict.

After three years of failed bids from the US to Abu Dhabi, internal rebellions, and even legal changes, the protracted sale of The Telegraph has delivered another dramatic twist with a blockbuster £575m cash offer from German publishing powerhouse Axel Springer.

Australia's antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal initiated an open tender process to assess how universities are handling antisemitism, but five firms—three independent consulting firms and two law firms—declined to bid. Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal that conflicts of interest, due to the firms' ties to the university sector, prevented them from participating, highlighting potential flaws in the procurement process for this sensitive government initiative.

Concerns about potential retaliation have escalated in Germany following the US and Israeli bombing campaigns against Iran. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the threat as "abstract" but emphasized that security authorities are closely monitoring the situation, highlighting the heightened state of alert.

António Lobo Antunes, the Portuguese novelist whose dark, polyphonic fiction confronted the traumas of dictatorship, war, and Portuguese society, has died at the age of 83. His death was confirmed by the publisher Dom Quixote. Widely regarded as one of the most important Portuguese writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Lobo Antunes produced more than 30 novels that reshaped Portuguese writing and made him a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The incoming chief executive of BP, Meg O'Neill, is set to receive a total compensation of at least £11.7 million in 2024. This figure more than doubles the £5.3 million earned by her predecessor, Murray Auchincloss, last year. O'Neill will join BP from Australian oil firm Woodside Energy in April, becoming the first external hire and the first woman to serve as CEO in the 117-year history of the oil major.

South Sudan is facing a sharp escalation in violence between government-aligned forces and opposition groups, with observers warning that the country risks sliding back into a full-scale civil war. Confrontations have intensified in recent weeks between the military loyal to President Salva Kiir and insurgents believed to be allied with suspended Vice-President Riek Machar, threatening the fragile peace established in 2018.

The operation by former U.S. President Donald Trump in Venezuela – involving the capture of leader Nicolás Maduro by special forces and the installation of U.S.-aligned Delcy Rodríguez as his successor – is now being touted as a 'regime capture' model that Trump allegedly seeks to replicate in Iran. In interviews with Axios and the New York Times, Trump purportedly described this method as 'the perfect scenario' and demanded involvement in selecting Iran's next leader, a strategy that a State Department official reportedly termed 'decapitate and delegate'.

As the US-Israel conflict with Iran intensifies, the European Union (EU) and its key powers are facing growing scrutiny. Western regimes have called for adherence to international law and condemned the Iranian government, yet European states have so far failed to articulate a common approach, appearing divided, sidelined, and ineffective as a major crisis unfolds in the Middle East with potential global ramifications.