The government is preparing to extend Palantir’s controversial NHS contract despite growing concerns over its software’s performance and widespread reluctance across hospitals to use it.

MPs, medics and campaigners have urged Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to trigger an early “break clause” in February, said the Financial Times. But ministers reviewing the £330 million deal to deploy the US tech giant’s flagship AI system have concluded that removing Palantir would be “too disruptive”.

What is Palantir’s contract with the NHS?

In 2023, NHS England awarded a Palantir-led consortium a contract to link datasets across hospitals and trusts. The result, the Federated Data Platform (FDP), is powered by Palantir’s Foundry software and loaned out to NHS teams to build applications, coordinate patient records, schedule procedures and reduce waiting lists.

The deal was controversial from the off due to Palantir’s work with US immigration enforcement and the Israeli military. Officials privately warned Wes Streeting, then health secretary, last year that Palantir’s reputation would deter NHS trusts from using its software, said The Guardian in February. Accusations that the procurement process was rigged also deepened after it emerged that Palantir had hired Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm ahead of the successful bid.

In June, the Commons Health and Social Care Committee recommended that the contract not be extended. “People don’t trust Palantir, its benefits are contested and other tools could deliver the same or similar advantages,” said committee member and Labour MP Ben Coleman in The Guardian.

Has its software helped the NHS?

The NHS and government claims of benefits are fiercely contested. Many doctors say the FDP is less effective than existing technology; some senior NHS leaders called it “slow and clunky”, said Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin in the London Review of Books.

Active usage is far lower than official claims suggest. NHS England said that, as of June this year, 139 NHS trusts were “live” on Palantir’s software. But 52 of them “did not use a single FDP app”, said the LRB, citing a Department of Health and Social Care official.

NHS England claims Palantir’s patient discharge tool was responsible for a 15% decrease in delayed discharges. But the Health Foundation think tank reported that hospitals using the tool saw “no noticeable improvement” compared with those that didn’t, said The BMJ.

Palantir has claimed it is helping to deliver “99,000 more NHS operations”, but digital rights advocacy group Foxglove says that nearly a third of NHS trusts using Palantir’s theatre scheduling tool performed fewer procedures after it was deployed.

In July, the Office for Statistics Regulation said that NHS England lacked sufficient evidence for its claims that the FDP was directly responsible for performance improvements.

What might happen next?

The National Audit Office, the independent public spending watchdog, is reviewing the rollout and costs of the FDP, and will publish a report this winter. NHS England also commissioned Imperial College London to evaluate clinical outcomes, with that final report due in 2029.

The government’s review of Palantir’s contract is still under way, but Cooper told MPs she wanted to use the NHS “to develop UK sovereign AI”. The government is planning to put the FDP contract out to tender, said The BMJ. That would force Palantir to “rebid against UK-based competitors”.

Health officials have been “sounding out a handful of British companies to bid to run the FDP”, said the FT. Rivals “insist they are ready to take over the contract”, but Palantir’s defenders claim switching to “an untested alternative” would be “a significant gamble”.

Amid rising interest rates, investors may be wondering where to put their money. Enter money market funds.

While higher interest rates are generally viewed negatively as a “drag on the economy, a burden for people seeking mortgages and a punishing hurdle for stocks,” said The New York Times, they are also an “unambiguous boon in one unheralded area: money market funds.” For this specific type of mutual fund, “higher rates almost immediately funnel more money to investors without major complications.”

What are money market funds?

This type of mutual fund invests in “highly liquid, near-term instruments” such as “cash, cash equivalent securities and high-credit-rating, debt-based securities with a short-term maturity, such as United States Treasuries,” said Investopedia. Like other kinds of mutual funds, money market funds pool money from numerous investors to buy into these investments, which then earn interest that the fund pays out to investors as dividends.

Money market funds have a “fixed price of $1 per share,” and they “aim to maintain their net asset value,” which “means your account value shouldn’t change other than any growth from your earnings,” said Vanguard. Their yields can vary, however.

When can money market funds make sense to invest in?

The goal of investing in a money market fund is generally to “keep your money’s value stable, easy to access and earning a competitive interest rate until you need it,” said Schwab. Money market funds tend to generate higher income than you would typically earn with a bank account.

At the same time, they are “less prone to market fluctuations than many other types of investments,” said Fidelity. They are also “subject to less interest rate risk than longer-maturing bond fund investments” due to their focus on near-term instruments. This translates to providing some level of safety and stability.

Money market funds are potentially most advantageous in a rising-rate environment. “When rates are rising, income from money market funds will typically rise as well,” said Vanguard.

Are there risks to money market funds?

One important thing to note about money market funds is that, unlike savings accounts and CDs, they are not FDIC-insured. Instead, as securities, they are protected by the SIPC. Investing always carries the risk of loss.

You will also want to be aware that the “income generated by money market funds typically won’t protect you against the loss of purchasing power over time due to inflation,” said Schwab. While the returns from a money market fund are likely “better than the nearly nothing you would receive in a standard checking account,” they are “so small, they are barely visible” when compared to investments like stocks, said the Times. Still, the stability and small wins they offer when rates are rising can make them worthwhile.

Thousands of European troops are to take part in military exercises in Poland in the first deployment of the so-called “coalition of the willing”.

The brainchild of Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, the 35-nation group was established in March 2025 “to strengthen support for Ukraine and put economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia”, said the Ministry of Defence.

Who is participating?

Around 2,800 military personnel from 10 European nations – Belgium, Estonia, Germany, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK – make up the Multinational Force-Ukraine (MNF-U), the military component of the coalition. They will take part in the war-game rehearsal, named Exercise Koalicja (the Polish word meaning coalition), in Poland this week. Turkey will separately test preparedness for mine-clearing operations in the Black Sea.

About 300 British personnel are taking part, with RAF Typhoons simulating how they would reassure commercial air travel once Ukraine’s skies reopen.

Anglo-French led, with an HQ rotating between London and Paris, the MNF-U “is not a peacekeeping or a ceasefire-monitoring force, nor is it connected to Nato”, said the MoD.

It has so far secured military commitments from 24 nations. The US will not be part of the mission, nor will the MNF-U rely on US weapons or technology such as Elon Musk’s Starlink, an official told The Times on condition of anonymity.

What will they be doing?

The two-week military exercise will test the ability of this new alliance to deploy in Ukraine once the fighting between Kyiv and Russia comes to an end.

French General Armel Dirou, who will co-lead the exercise alongside Britain’s Lieutenant General Tom Bateman, called it “a key milestone” that “will serve as a concrete demonstration of the MNF-U’s ability to be deployed as soon as hostilities have ended”, said France 24.

Aspects to be tested include coordination arrangements, rehearsing the movement of personnel, equipment and supplies, and assessing whether the different components can integrate and operate effectively as one multinational force.

What will the force look like?

The MNF-U is “not designed for offensive operations”, said Bateman. “Its purpose is to provide reassurance and support the regeneration of Ukraine’s armed forces, strengthening their ability to deter and, if necessary, defend against future Russian aggression.”

Russia has already voiced opposition to foreign troops being stationed in Ukraine and, last year, President Vladimir Putin said they would be “legitimate targets”.

Western officials have “declined to spell out the rules of engagement if any international troops were to be attacked in Ukraine”, though “they say the force would be able to defend itself”, said the BBC.

“This isn’t a hypothetical plan, it’s a real force, ready to help Ukraine once the fighting stops,” said Defence Secretary Wes Streeting.

Last month, new US sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) began to take effect. All US-linked companies that provide services to the court face penalties; it has had to find European alternatives to US software, and end its relationship with insurance company Axa, which does business in the US.

The latest measures were announced on 9 October, but sanctions had already been imposed by the US on ICC officials: in Donald Trump’s first term (in response to an ICC probe into the actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan); and in 2025, after the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, over suspected war crimes in Gaza. The US regards this as an overextension of its authority. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the ICC a “rogue court”, and said that if US allies did not rein it in, America would “continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick”.

What exactly is the ICC?

It’s not part of the UN, though it was created by the Statute of Rome, at the UN General Assembly there in 1998. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda provided blueprints for the ICC.

Describing itself as the “court of last resort”, the ICC, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, exercises its power only when states are “unwilling or unable” to investigate serious crimes against international law. The Rome Statute lists crimes it can prosecute: genocide; crimes against humanity; war crimes; crimes of aggression; and offences against its own legal processes (i.e. perjury or contempt).

There are 125 member states, but many others do not recognise its authority. More than 40, including China and India, never signed the treaty. Dozens of others, such as the US, Israel and Russia, signed the treaty but never ratified it.

What is its jurisdiction?

Usually, it can only exert authority over citizens of its member states or when a crime has been committed on member-state soil. For instance, although Russia is not an ICC state party, Vladimir Putin has been indicted for crimes committed in Ukraine, which has accepted the jurisdiction of the court since 2014. Palestine followed in 2015, allowing warrants to be served on Israeli ministers.

Although the ICC respects the primacy of member states’ courts, it can step in if it deems they are failing. But it has no police or army: signatory states are obliged to enforce its rulings; and since the world’s three most militarily powerful nations are not members, this limits its powers.

Why is it criticised?

For many reasons. Its proceedings are slow: since its first case in 2006, there have been only 34 cases before the court, and 15 convictions. These have been disproportionately focused on less powerful countries. The first ICC investigation against a citizen from outside the African continent did not take place until 2016; and the court continues to struggle with its image as the enforcer of “white man’s justice”. The US human rights lawyer Reed Brody complained in 2024 that it had “never indicted a Western official”, preferring to focus on “powerless outcasts, or opponents of the West such as Vladimir Putin”.

However, on the occasions when it has indicted Western allies, or investigated crimes potentially committed by Western nations, it is criticised for having a “globalist” left-wing agenda.

Why did the US never sign up?

President Clinton signed the treaty, but did not submit it to the Senate for ratification. Given the global deployment of US troops and the frequency of its use of force, the fear was that the ICC would make US officials and soldiers vulnerable, and would reduce its freedom of military action. The US has long rejected the ICC’s claim to jurisdiction over its citizens when they are in the territory of treaty states. President George W. Bush signed into law the American Service-Members’ Protection Act in 2002, declaring that it would take “all means necessary” to protect US military personnel and officials from ICC jurisdiction.

However, until recently the US has selectively supported investigations, for instance into war crimes in Darfur and during the Syrian civil war, and – under President Biden – into Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

Why is Trump so opposed to the ICC?

It is part of his wider war on multilateral institutions, which has seen the US withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the WHO. The latest sanctions, however, seem to have had a particular trigger: they came hours after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to one of the ICC’s former judges. South African judge Navi Pillay, currently at the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague, was awarded the prize for lifelong contributions to international justice. The prize, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee, was a “message to those who are attacking, undermin[ing] ... the international rules-based system”.

Where does this leave the ICC?

Sanctions mean officials cannot enter the US, or use US-affiliated credit cards or use Microsoft platforms. Staff say that the sanctions have not hindered the court’s work, but this seems improbable. The EU, whose states are heavily committed to the ICC, has given clear support, saying that US attacks on the court and its officials are “simply not acceptable”.

The EU last month awarded the court the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commending its “important work in upholding international law and justice”. The campaign against it is likely to “further cement the reputation of the United States as an unhinged, domineering hegemon”, argues Stewart Patrick of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But opposition to the ICC is practically a consensus position on the US Right.

Technically, you only have to pay your credit card once a month, by the assigned due date, to remain on time and in good standing with payments. But if you are trying to stay on top of your credit card balance, making two payments a month — one mid-month and another ahead of your actual due date — could be a useful hack.

Sure, it will require some extra legwork. But the benefits are twofold: Saving you in interest charges, and possibly boosting your credit score by lowering your credit utilization ratio. There is even the possibility that the trick will help you pay down your debt faster, if it puts you in better touch with your budget.

What are the benefits of making two credit card payments a month?

There are a few ways making two payments a month can be beneficial.

It could save you on interest charges. Credit card interest “compounds daily based on your average daily balance,” said GOBankingRates. If you carry a balance, “by making two payments per month instead of one, you keep your average daily balance lower and reduce the amount of interest that accrues.”

It may boost your credit score. One determining factor of your credit score is your credit utilization ratio, which is how much of your total available credit limit you are currently using. More frequent payments can increase the odds your balance stays below the recommended 30% ratio.

It can expedite debt payoff. As mentioned, more frequent payments could cut down on interest charges, which in turn could make it easier to pay off the balance you already have. More frequent payments may also lead to you paying a bit more than you would have otherwise.

When is it worth trying to make two payments?

The reality for most people is that “credit card bills are just one of the several expenses they pay each month,” and even if “you’re paying your card more frequently, you still need to cover your other costs,” said CNBC Select. Some people will find it hard to budget for more frequent payments, especially if their income is irregular. And by “parting with your money sooner rather than later, you’re missing any potential gains it could have earned you” in a high-yield bank account.

Meanwhile, those in the habit of paying their credit card in full each month “are unlikely to see a significant benefit” from this hack, since they already are not paying interest charges, said SoFi. There could, however, be an exception if you have a “low credit limit relative to your overall monthly spending,” as in this scenario, “making a payment mid-month may have a bigger impact on your credit utilization ratio and, therefore, your credit score.”

How should you time twice-monthy credit card payments?

The easiest way to pull off making payments twice a month is to time them strategically, lining them up with your paychecks, especially if you get paid bimonthly. Ideally, you would make “one payment shortly after receiving your paycheck and another before your credit card statement closes,” said CBS News.

Just make sure to stay aware of your actual due date. “Making an early payment doesn’t necessarily eliminate your obligation to satisfy the minimum payment by the due date,” said CBS News, and you could otherwise face late fees. Also make sure to keep close track of how much you are paying each time and when those payments hit.

As American tech firms pile billions into AI products, their Chinese counterparts are experiencing what some analysts have long warned might be coming: a bubble that pops, with both enormous sums and international clout at risk. What does China’s bursting AI bubble mean for this burgeoning industry, and what could happen next?

Why is China’s AI economy unique?

China’s artificial intelligence boom has “crashed,” said Reuters, as “lofty valuations collapse under worries about AI demand” and limits on Chinese exports. In addition to “tanking” China’s STAR50 index of AI and semiconductor leaders plus “vaporizing some $480 billion in market value” over the past several months, the bursting bubble is an “ill omen for wobbly world markets.” Beijing’s efforts at “encouraging its savers into stocks to fund the AI boom” are also vulnerable.

China’s “AI exuberance” may “already have come and gone,” said the Financial Times. The shift in part stems from differences between American and Chinese AI industries. Western firms have “focused on charging for access” to their proprietary AI models, while Chinese labs are “more comfortable giving away the model and charging for access to processing power.” China’s “‘open-weight’ models” have led to “intense price competition” on both sides of the Pacific, raising questions about whether revenue can “support the level of investment required to develop ever more powerful models.” Sliding Chinese tech stocks reflect a “repricing of crowded AI trades, weak domestic demand and the lack of stimulus,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate & Investment Bank, to CNN.

What does this mean for world markets?

Wall Street is funding America’s AI build-out “in real time,” said NPR, and China’s bubble collapse raises the question of whether the U.S. might be “close behind.” China’s stock dive “offers a cautionary tale,” as insiders warn an “abrupt collapse of the debt-fueled AI boom” could have deleterious effects worldwide, said CNN. For now, “strict controls” limiting foreign investment into Chinese markets mean the current stock slip is “unlikely to trigger significant spillovers into global markets.”

“The only thing I worry about is that people will forget Hong Kong,” Joshua Wong wrote from prison, in letters seen by The Guardian, after being given a further 10-year sentence for foreign collusion.

The pro-democracy activist, now 30, has been imprisoned since 2020 and was due to be released in January. But his second conviction under Beijing’s national security law – which “has been used to quash dissidence and lock up journalists”, said The Telegraph – has put paid to that prospect.

Wong wrote of his fears that, “amid competition and struggles between great powers”, people will “forget the countless ordinary, unknown people in different places who have paid a price for their beliefs”.

What happened to Wong?

Wong is the only activist to have been prosecuted twice under the controversial law, which Beijing imposed on the territory in 2019 following “huge and often violent pro-democracy protests” that “convulsed the international financial hub”, said CNN.

In his ruling, High Court judge William Tam said Wong had used an underground network and sought to “draw the attention of foreign countries” to bolster the cause.

The conviction represents more than another prison sentence for a prominent activist. It illustrates the increasingly difficult environment facing organised political opposition in Hong Kong.

What challenges lie ahead?

Since the national security law came into effect in 2020, “civil groups have disbanded, and some independent media outlets have been shut down”, said CNN, while “most pro-democracy figures are either in jail or in exile overseas”. The legal environment now creates significant risks for those seeking to organise within Hong Kong.

It remains to be seen whether the pro-democracy movement can preserve its networks, identity and international connections without the visible street mobilisation that once defined it.

What will happen next?

The Wong verdict is another setback for the pro-democracy movement and highlights just how dramatically Hong Kong’s political environment has changed since the mass demonstrations of 2014 and 2019.

Large-scale protests on that scale are unlikely to return in the foreseeable future. Activism may increasingly shift overseas, but this brings its own challenges. Divisions within the diaspora, declining international attention and concerns about transnational pressure on activists and their families could all hamper efforts to sustain the movement.

There could also be a generational shift, as younger Hongkongers develop a different understanding of political participation in light of the perceived personal and professional risks.

But activism is not necessarily limited to elections and demonstrations. It can also involve preserving collective memory, cultural identity, historical narratives and freedom of expression.

So while the future of activism in Hong Kong looks increasingly difficult, it is not necessarily hopeless. The city’s democratic aspirations will not disappear simply because its political organisations have been dismantled.

These days, it is possible to get just about anything without leaving the comfort of your couch. You can order takeout, get groceries for the week, replenish household essentials, download an in-theater movie or even restock food for Fido.

But all that ease can make it that much easier to spend. You may also end up paying a price markup. Before you fall for the convenience of it, here is what to know about the so-called couch economy.

What is the couch economy exactly?

The term refers to the “growing share of domestic spending” that “now occurs through e-commerce websites, mobile apps and other digital channels,” as opposed to at physical stores, said Visa in a report on the phenomenon. Put another way, it is the burgeoning digital marketplace “where consumers can seamlessly shop, dine, work and consume entertainment without leaving home.”

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans have increasingly chosen to stay in rather than go out. While this may seem like it would lend itself to lower levels of spending, the couch economy “shows us that hanging at home still offers plenty of ways to spend money” — and with less effort than ever, said NerdWallet.

How can the couch economy influence spending habits?

With online spending, there’s “absolutely no friction and it’s really hard to keep track of,” said Corey Bates, an investment adviser representative at Solomon Financial, to NerdWallet. “If you’re not reviewing your budget and being intentional with your money, it’s really easy for it to slip away.”

Whether or not you have consciously noticed, “online retailers’ checkout flows are designed for near-zero friction,” with features like “stored cards, one-click buttons, autofill shipping and express wallets,” said Kiplinger. All of these elements “move you from want to ‘order placed’ in seconds.”

On a psychological level, spending digitally can simply feel less real than handing over money in person. “With cash, you see less money in your hand,” whereas “with digital, you see a number in an app sometime later,” said Kiplinger. “Autopay and BNPL plans can further blur the picture, spreading the cost out and moving it away from the moment of purchase.”

What can you do to keep better tabs on spending?

Perhaps the easiest way to intervene when it comes to mindless digital spending is to increase awareness. Start taking note of what you are ordering, how much you are spending and when you are most likely to hit ‘order.’ If you are ordering things out of boredom or a lack of planning, those are things you can address.

Being aware of the cost markup involved can also make you think twice. For instance, when you use Instacart to buy groceries, there is a good chance you will end up paying a “service fee, a shopper tip and a markup on items at the store,” said NerdWallet. Sometimes, that may be worth it — but other times, you may be forced to admit that it’s not.

Hackers are targeting the technology controlling supermarket fridges and freezers across Europe, causing disruption, ruining millions of euros worth of food, and raising serious concerns about how prepared the UK is for a similar assault.

What has happened?

Supermarkets in several countries have been hit by cyberattacks that hit their refrigerated and frozen food storage units. In Belgium, Ireland and Sweden, an IT incident left cold storage units malfunctioning after attackers exploited security flaws in their internet-connected controllers.

Hackers can access the controls of digital refrigeration systems and turn their temperatures up very high, turning an everyday piece of supermarket equipment into a tool for disruption.

The attacks began last month, when hundreds of French supermarkets were left with “spoiled food” and overheated equipment, causing damage costing millions of euros, said Al Jazeera. It is a “very cold war”.

How vulnerable is the UK?

Some British supermarket fridges have also been affected, although the incidents are thought to be “isolated and not widespread” at this stage, said The i Paper.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, confirmed there had been a “couple of instances” in which cold food storage units in the UK had been exploited by hackers.

The threat extends beyond supermarkets, however. Disruption has been identified across the wider food supply chain, with the full impact still unclear. Meat processing firms in the UK were hit by cyberattacks and the NCSC is working to understand the extent of the problem and identify vulnerable technology.

Meanwhile, Horne warned that the UK’s underlying technology infrastructure “has not been invested in to the extent it needs to be”. Many organisations continue to rely on ageing systems that have reached the end of their useful lives or have not been properly updated. This leaves “a whole load of vulnerabilities” that artificial intelligence, in the hands of hostile actors, can help identify and exploit with ease.

The NCSC has also warned that AI-powered malware could be used to attack critical national infrastructure in Britain within the next two years, including airports, hospitals and power stations.

The risks are not limited to businesses. Increasing numbers of household appliances are connected to the internet, including fridges, freezers, smart thermostats, central heating systems, locks and televisions. We should “get used to the chaos and confusion”, said The Independent, because “hits on networks and services that affect our everyday life are coming for us in due course”.

What can be done about it?

For the companies and organisations affected, the simplest fix is to patch their software systems. According to the Belgian refrigerator group Sabcobel, the impact of Monday’s hack could have been far worse if they had not started patching fridges after the 12 October attack in France.

In the UK retailers are “currently working with the NCSC to ensure their fridges and freezers are secure as possible against potential attacks”, said Graham Wynn, from the British Retail Consortium.

The UK is considering spending £450 million a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees, said The Guardian. But it wants access to the bloc’s “Made in Europe” protectionist industrial scheme in return.

What is ‘Made in Europe’?

The European Commission’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is designed to help stimulate demand for European-made clean technologies, while reducing reliance on producers from abroad, most notably China but also the US.

Covering strategic sectors such as steel, aluminium and cement, electric vehicles, batteries, solar and ⁠wind power, hydrogen technology and nuclear energy, the law aims to use the €2 trillion of member states’ public procurement to shore up struggling domestic industries and push into newer growing sectors. Supporters of the scheme say rivals such as the US, China, and India already have similar rules in place and this would merely bring the EU in line with much of the rest of the world.

“If we do nothing, then it’s quite clear that very soon, 100% of clean tech technology will be ⁠produced in China,” said Stéphane Séjourné, an EC executive vice president, in March. “It’s quite possible that our cement, steel industries will be offshored completely in the next few years.”

Will it work?

The problem is that “EU governments disagree over where Europe ends”, said Euronews. France has been pushing for a strict EU approach while Germany wants a more open model, allowing products made “with” Europe, provided those countries grant European companies equivalent access in return.

Last month, Germany and France reached a compromise that would allow suppliers from non-EU members like the UK, Norway and Switzerland to qualify for “European origin” status.

This is “causing deep concern among other allied carmaking nations” such as Japan, South Korea and Turkey, which will still be shut out from the scheme, said Deutsche Welle. Excluding Turkey, which has enjoyed seamless access to the EU market since the mid-1990s, would also harm European car production rather than strengthen competitiveness against China, said Ayhan Zeytinoglu, from the Turkish think tank the Economic Development Foundation.

Will the UK be able to join?

The “Made in Europe” scheme has become a major obstacle to the UK’s long-hoped-for Brexit “reset” with the EU. Wrangling over rules affecting British businesses has twice delayed a UK–EU summit, which is finally due to take place on 20 November.

Andy Burnham said in September that he would make the case for Britain to be considered a “trusted partner” under the scheme, warning that excluding the UK could damage the British car industry.

The UK and EU have already agreed a draft deal on removing post-Brexit checks from food and agriculture exports. Burnham’s government now hopes the promise to subsidise EU students could be enough to win over EU negotiators in the “Made in Europe” talks.

“We are willing to give the Europeans what they want on fees, but we will have to get something significant in return,” a source told The Guardian. “The biggest prize we are pushing for right now is access to Made in Europe, so there is a deal to be done there.”

US voters head to the polls today for midterm elections billed as a referendum on Donald Trump, even though the president’s name will not appear on a single ballot.

Up for grabs are all 435 seats in the lower house of Congress – the House of Representatives, where the Democrats expect to secure a majority – as well as 35 out of the 100 seats in the Senate, where the competition is predicted to be far closer.

Democrats would need to win four of seven Senate races deemed to be a “toss-up” by independent elections analyst The Cook Political Report to give them control of Congress, and with it “the power to limit Trump’s ambitions, reject his judicial nominations and investigate his administration”, said the BBC. Here are the races to watch:

Michigan

Probably the most hard-fought and vitriolic Senate race in this election cycle. Republicans have tried to paint Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed as a socialist and an Islamic extremist with links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Polls have remained neck-and-neck but a late shock endorsement for Republican challenger Mike Rogers by Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, could have a decisive impact. Crucially, this is one of the few toss-up Senate seats currently held by the Democrats, and winning it back would be a boost to Republican hopes of clinging on to a majority in Congress.

Alaska

Democrat candidate Mary Peltola, the first Indigenous Alaskan to be elected to the House of Representatives, has campaigned for the Senate on a platform of “fish, family, freedom” to come within touching distance of flipping the Republican seat.

While Alaska’s ranked-choice system has historically made it harder for pollsters to predict the winner, the election campaign has also been marred by controversy and accusations of dirty tricks with the appearance of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. One is the incumbent Republican senator, the other a retired teacher with no prior political experience, sparking claims he had been induced to run by the senator’s opponents in the hopes of confusing voters.

Texas

The Lone Star state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly 40 years, but polls show rising star James Talarico is in with a fighting chance. At more than half a billion dollars and counting, it is the most expensive Senate race in US history, with Republican challenger and arch-Trump loyalist Attorney General Ken Paxton trying to paint his opponent – who once suggested God was non-binary – as far-left on culture issues. But Talarico, a 37-year-old former teacher who studied to be a Christian minister, has nonetheless managed to cut through with voters in the traditionally deep-red Republican stronghold.

Kansas

Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, but rising farming and fuel costs linked to Trump’s war in Iran, as well as the impact of the president’s immigration crackdown on rural businesses, means the state is unexpectedly up for grabs. The Democrats have also benefited from picking charismatic Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton as their candidate in a state with a large evangelical and mainline Protestant population. The latest polls show him narrowly ahead of incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall in what would be a hugely symbolic gain for the Democrats.

Age may be just a number. Your credit score, however, carries a lot of weight. Those three digits can influence whether or not you get approved for everything from a credit card to a mortgage, as well as the interest rate you end up paying. It can even hold sway over landing a job you applied for or securing an apartment rental.

While age and credit score are not directly related, it can be useful to see how your score compares to those of your peers. This will help you gauge how well you’re doing in this particular financial metric and how it may affect your financial life overall.

What is the average credit score by age?

As of 2026, the average FICO scores by age were as follows, said NerdWallet:

Ages 18-29: 676

Ages 30-39: 686

Ages 40-49: 702

Ages 50-59: 718

Ages 60 and up: 752

For reference, FICO scoring ranges from 300 to a top score of 850. Scores within the range of 670 to 739 are considered good, while scores between 740 and 799 are considered very good.

Does your age affect your credit score?

Your age is not technically a factor in calculating your credit score. However, it can influence two factors that go into determining your score: the length of your credit history and your mix of account types.

“Older generations tend to have higher scores because they’ve had more time to establish a solid credit history,” said SoFi. The accounts they own will have inherently been open longer. It is also likely they have a wider range of accounts under their name, as they have had more opportunity to borrow money, and for different purposes, such as buying a house or a car.

People in different age brackets additionally tend to be in distinct financial situations. For example, younger generations are likelier to have student loan debt, driving up their overall utilization rate, and “they are less likely to have home equity or savings to tap in the event of financial emergency or job loss,” said Experian, which may leave them more vulnerable to missing a payment or carrying a balance.

Meanwhile, “baby boomers are more likely to have paid-off or low-balance mortgages, empty (or emptier) nests that often mean fewer trips to the grocery and fewer needs for another vehicle to finance,” said Experian. This can all make it easier to stay on top of payments and steer clear of racking up a balance.

How can you improve your credit score?

While there is no shortcut to increasing the age of your credit accounts, there are several steps you can take to boost your score.

Make payments on time. Payment history “makes up a significant chunk of your credit score,” which is why it’s “important to avoid late payments,” said Equifax.

Pay down debt. Another factor your score takes into account is your credit utilization rate, or how much of your available balance you are using. Paying down debt can help lower this rate, thus improving your score. On a credit card, paying your balance in full can also help avoid accruing interest charges.

Keep tabs on your credit report. The more you know, the more effectively you can take action. If your score is lower than you would like, “check your credit reports to learn what may be causing the drop in your score and dispute any errors with the credit bureaus,” said NerdWallet.

Investors withdrew $3.6 billion (£2.7 billion) of assets from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance when it reopened for business after what is thought to be the biggest financial theft in history.

Hackers stole around $6.3 billion on Thursday, though Binance claims to have “replenished” around 90% of that into customer accounts.

It took “no more than 30 minutes” to move the “eye-watering” sum, said the Financial Times. The funds may prove “impossible to recover”, said CoinDesk, renewing the “debate over the safeguards exchanges need to prevent a security breach from becoming a financial catastrophe”.

How did it happen?

Crypto exchanges like Binance, which has more than 300 million registered users worldwide, are especially “tempting targets” for hackers, said The Wall Street Journal. While traditional stock exchanges don’t hold the securities of their investors, and only facilitate trades, crypto exchanges often store their customers’ cryptocurrencies. Hackers can therefore directly access customers’ funds from the exchanges’ crypto wallets.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said on X that the security breach could have originated via a “compromised” laptop belonging to one of the company’s engineers. However, this would not have been a “single ‘one-click’ action”, but a “more complex attack process”.

Who was behind it?

Crypto analysis firm TRM and other researchers have attributed the attack to a North Korean hacking unit TraderTraitor, based on “robust on and off-chain intelligence”. This has yet to be confirmed.

“If North Korea is proven to be the culprit, it would be little surprise to US law enforcement officials and private experts,” said CNN. TraderTraitor has been “behind many of the largest crypto hacks in recent memory”, said WSJ, including the previous record theft of $1.5 billion last year from Bybit, another major cryptocurrency exchange.

What will happen next?

Binance said on X it has frozen more than $3 billion (£2.2 billion) – around half – of the stolen crypto and promised to cover all money lost in the hack from existing funds.

Freezing the crypto means the hackers “cannot move, transfer or cash out” their takings, essentially “trapping the tokens inside the wallet before hackers can convert them into other cryptocurrencies or launder them”, said WSJ.

Recovering the losses may prove more problematic. This requires a “separate legal process” involving court orders or a seizure warrant, Ari Redbord, from TRM, told CNBC. Recovering Bitcoin in particular – which accounts for around a quarter of the haul – is “more challenging because they have no issuer that can directly freeze the assets”, said Eric Jardine, from Chainalysis. “There is no standard recovery timeline. A technical freeze may happen quickly, while returning funds can take months or years.”

Heart disease poses a significant threat to women, but research into the issue has been lacking for years. Now, for the first time, four medical societies have published a shared framework and clinical guidance to help doctors identify and treat cardiovascular risk throughout a woman’s life.

What did the group outline?

The American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine have created a system to help redefine heart health for girls and women. The group outlines four “Female Life Stages” where hormones could affect heart health: perimenarche (ages 8-15), regular ovarian cycling (ages 15-44), perimenopause (ages 45-51) and postmenopause (age 51 and older). Pregnancy at any life stage is also included. Three manuscripts published in the AHA’s flagship journal, Circulation, include guidelines for navigating these stages.

The coalition asserts that because “female-specific biology” affects girls’ and women’s hearts “throughout their lives,” it requires “connected, holistic care starting in adolescence” to reflect “transitions not found in the male models” that dominate health care: “periods, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause,” said Stat.

What happens in adolescence and young adulthood “impacts your life for years and decades to come,” so acting at that point can “really change the course of someone’s cardiovascular health story,” Sadiya Khan, the chair of the group and a professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said to Stat. Keeping the various aspects of women’s healthcare “all connected and not siloed,” even though that’s “typically how we have approached care,” will require an “integrative approach.”

Why was a new framework needed?

Heart disease is already the number one killer of women globally, and both heart disease and stroke are “projected to rise significantly in women over the next two decades,” said NBC News. Still, very little is known about how female biology affects heart health. Scientists were “not required to include women in clinical trials on heart disease until 1993,” and today, “fewer women are still included in the trials than men.” Women’s healthcare is also “often uniquely fragmented across different specialties” throughout their lifetime.

Ultimately, girls and women “represent half the population,” and “every clinician, every specialty and every health system” has a role to play in their well-being, Khan said at Time. Women can “do much to protect their health,” but they should not have to “connect the dots in their care alone.”

Chancellor John Healey delivered the Autumn Budget this week, promising “breathing space now and fresh hope for the future”. In his first fiscal update, Healey said it would be a “Budget for the worker, the sole trader, the parent at the school gate”.

But for some groups it was not good news, with income tax thresholds remaining frozen, ultimately “scooping more money out of pay packets”, said the BBC.

The Budget was a “raft of fiddly measures”, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “but very little that will move the dial on growth”.

Plus, while cost of living support will be welcomed, the update did nothing to “make the wealthiest pay fair taxes on their income from assets, nor a fair tax on the extraordinary profits banks have been making”, said Tax Justice UK.

Energy bill support 

Healey extended the VAT cut on energy bills until July 2027, which is expected to take around £50 off the annual Ofgem price cap next April.

Standing charges on gas bills will be abolished next year. In reality, the standing charge will be added to the unit rate of gas instead so “lower users are expected to benefit from lower bills, but those with above average consumption are likely to pay more”, said MoneySavingExpert.

Around 20 million homes on council tax bands A to D will be eligible for a Household Energy Payment of £100 to help pay their energy bills.

Minimum wage boost

Both the national minimum wage and the national living wage will rise by 3.9% in April. The national living wage, which applies to people aged 21 and over, will rise from £12.71 to £13.21. The national minimum wage, for workers aged 18 to 20, will go from £10.85 to £11.27.

Labour had previously pledged to increase the younger rate faster than the adult one, but this “marks a slowdown in wage rises for the youth”, said LBC, and does nothing to “narrow the minimum wage gap between older and younger workers”.

Fuel duty freeze

There was some good news for motorists amid high petrol prices as fuel duty will be frozen for the 16th year in a row.

It will be a “mild sigh of relief”, said the RAC, but drivers will be hoping for an easing of international conflicts if pump prices are to truly come down in “a meaningful way”.

Savings

Healey scrapped plans to lower the cash ISA allowance to £12,000. But he announced that the rates of tax on income from property and savings will rise by two further percentage points from April 2027 to 24%, 44% and 49% depending on your tax band.

The cash ISA U-turn will “delight” savers, said Moneyfacts’ Rachel Springall, but the higher taxes mean utilising any allowances to shelter savings from tax is “vital”.

But landlords will be “particularly disappointed”, said Savills. The higher tax on rental income “runs the risk of further restricting rental supply” and piling “upward pressure on rents”.

Your First Home

The chancellor confirmed that a new housing support scheme called Your First Home will launch next spring. It provides an equity loan from the government to support a 2.5% deposit on a new-build purchase for first-time buyers. There will be household income caps and local property price caps.

A new First Time Buyer Isa will be launched to replace the Lifetime Isa. In a “notable change” from earlier proposals, said The Independent, the government bonus of 25% will now be worked out on the final total balance rather than payments into the Isa. This ensures savers “don’t miss out” on any boosts to their savings “through interest or capital growth”.

In another “huge change”, said The Sun, Healey announced that the Lifetime Isa withdrawal penalty will be scrapped if savers are buying a home above the £450,000 limit. Buyers will at least get back what they contributed.

A London councillor resigned from Reform UK after footage emerged of him saying King Charles was a “traitorous” secret Muslim and should be beheaded.

Bromley councillor Dean Miller’s baseless remarks, recorded as part of ITV News’ undercover investigation into Reform, were only the latest airing of an increasingly widespread conspiracy theory that the British monarch, and head of the Church of England, is operating as a stealth Muslim who intends to dismantle the country’s Christian identity from within.

When did the rumours start?

Claims that King Charles had secretly converted to Islam have been circulating for decades. Their origin is hard to trace but many people point to a claim made in a book published in 1996, called “The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville”, In it, author Giles Milton quoted the Grand Mufti of Cyprus saying that the then Prince of Wales had become a Muslim on a recent visit to Turkey.

This “revelation” caused a huge stir in the British press – at a time when Prince Charles was already deeply unpopular with the public after his divorce and admission of adultery. Buckingham Palace broke its normal convention of not commenting on press speculation to dismiss the book’s claims as “nonsense”.

Why have they gained traction?

The King has often “praised classical Islam and noted some of its moral and cultural strengths”, said vicar Marcus Walker in The Critic. To claim that this means he is a Muslim is almost the “dictionary definition of deranged”. But that has not stopped the theory “increasingly being made across social media”, and, to my shock, at “polite dinner parties and on the fringes of academic conferences”.

The rumours also feed into other conspiracy theories about the supposed Islamification of Britain, and especially London. Earlier this year, on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show, Rudi Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, said Britian is going to be “a Muslim country in 10 years” and “Charles III might be the Muslim monarch”.

What is the King’s history with Islam?

Charles is known to have studied the Qur’an and, in 2013, he had six months of private Arabic lessons. In the 1990s, said Walker in The Critic, he was reported to have “mused on whether”, once he became King, “he should be known as ‘Defender of Faith’, rather than of ‘the Faith’”.

He has long demonstrated a devout Anglicanism but, said Middle East Eye, he is also interested in theological scholarship that argues that “all the great religions share universal truths”. In speeches, he has praised Islam for its integrated view of the universe, nature and spirituality, and said that West is in debt to the scholars of Islam.

Last week, during a state banquet for Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq at Windsor Castle, the King quoted a hadith, a saying of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic. A clip of his recitation has since gone viral on social media, adding more fuel to the far-right conspiracy that he is a Muslim hiding in plain sight.

With many American tech companies looking to expand their footholds across the world, a large number have planted their flags in Aragon, a diverse region of northeast Spain. While Aragon is one of Spain’s least-populated areas, its tech boom is quickly becoming consequential.

Why Aragon?

Many U.S. conglomerates are moving there because of Aragon’s sparsity. The area is a “Big Tech company’s dream,” as “vast, uninterrupted stretches of the region are empty,” said Bloomberg.

Aragon’s capital, Zaragoza, is Spain’s fourth most populous city, but beyond that the “landscape opens out into broad countryside where most municipalities have fewer than 26 residents per square mile,” said Bloomberg. This large territory has made Aragon one of the “fastest-growing data center hubs, with investments announced by Amazon, Microsoft and others surpassing $94.4 billion.”

Amazon is one of the biggest investors and “promises to spend almost $40 billion to build multiple vast complexes — one alone as large as 600 American football fields,” said NPR. Amazon and others like it believe Aragon “could serve as a model for a European Union seeking to triple its data center capacity within seven years and narrow the AI infrastructure gap with the U.S. and China,” said Reuters. Unlike other areas in Spain, Aragon’s government is also largely friendly to data centers.

What does this mean for the region?

Many officials “speak boldly of the jobs and long-term prosperity that await once Aragon becomes ‘the Virginia of Europe,’” said Bloomberg, referring to Loudoun County, Virginia, which has the world’s highest concentration of data centers. The Aragon government “expects data centers to create tens of thousands of jobs and says local companies are already feeling the positive impact.”

Still, questions about long-term viability remain. Due to fears about the AI bubble bursting, some investors have “cast doubt on the billions of dollars that tech companies are pouring into infrastructure upgrades and partnerships with AI startups,” said The Wall Street Journal. The rapid buildup of tech has also “left many in Aragon feeling excluded from decisions that will profoundly impact their region and lives,” said NPR.

“We are going to open the window and see nothing,” said Silvia Baselga, who lives near a data center construction site, to NPR. It’s “going to be like living beside a prison.”

The first shipment of Venezuelan oil has arrived in the US, under the terms of Donald Trump’s opaque and highly controversial deal with the South American nation.

The president claimed that, “the biggest oil deal in the history of the world” with Venezuela’s Washington-backed interim government would bring the US “BILLIONS of Barrels”. But many Venezuelans see it as an illegal surrender of natural resources to enrich a select few, at the behest of a colonial US. Trump further fanned these fears by suggesting that “someday soon” Venezuela might “become a prosperous 51st state”.

What do we know about the deal?

In August, the US announced a partnership agreement with North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), a private firm registered in the Bahamas and run by the Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt López. The full text of the deal has since become “one of the most sought-after secrets in Washington”, said ProPublica.

Caracas has given Nabep control of 17 oil fields, and the Trump administration has taken a 35% stake in the firm. The deal allows the US government to purchase its first million barrels of Nabep’s crude oil, with no mark-up, for $30 (£23) a barrel, or less than a third of current market prices, sources told The Washington Post. The US then sells the oil to refineries run by Exxon Mobil and Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum.

“The agreement has raised eyebrows to say the least,” said the BBC. Nabep is “little known” outside Venezuela and Betancourt has been under investigation in five different countries, mainly for corruption and money laundering. The 46-year-old oil baron has never been charged with a criminal offence, and denies any wrongdoing.

What’s in it for Trump?

Oil prices have skyrocketed across the US since the outbreak of war with Iran, while Trump’s approval ratings have fallen to record lows ahead of the midterm elections next week. This first shipment “gives Trump a chance to tout access to cheaper crude as ​evidence his policies are delivering economic benefits”, said Reuters. US petrol and diesel prices “will soon come plummeting down”, he wrote on social media – “JUST WATCH!”

Trump’s words show “the extent to which the White House is seeking to leverage its influence” over Venezuela for its own “political benefit”, said The Washington Post. But oil experts say the deal is “not expected to have a significant impact” on prices at US pumps. US refiners are already operating at maximum capacity, leaving them little room to scale up, and thick, heavy Venezuelan crude is particularly difficult to refine.

What’s in it for Venezuela?

Venezuela’s Trump-backed interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has insisted that Caracas retains sovereignty over its massive oil reserves. “The benefits” of this oil deal are “endless”, she said, bringing in revenues of more than $209 billion (£154 billion) and turning Venezuela into “an energy powerhouse”.

But the deal has “provoked outrage” across Venezuela’s political spectrum, said The Guardian. One prominent opposition figure called it “a massive land grab” by a “rapacious, mafioso” US.

Whether the due date slipped your mind, your payment failed to go through or you were short on funds one month, you missed your credit card payment. While never ideal, the steps you take next can make a difference in how big of a problem that missed payment ends up being.

It’s important to act fast — a missed payment can have some major impacts the longer it lingers, from late fees and interest accrual to negative effects on your credit score. Below, we break down what to do when you realize a credit card payment is overdue, as well as the consequences that missed or late payments can have.

What should you do next if you’ve missed a payment?

The moment you realize you have missed a credit card payment, make at least the minimum payment. Time is of the essence here for a couple of reasons: For one, “if you make your payment right away, you may even be able to avoid a late fee,” said Bankrate. Secondly, “if your payment is less than 30 days past due, you can avoid it hitting your credit report” and thus negatively impacting your credit score, said CNBC Select.

This may also be a good moment to contact your credit issuer. “If this is your first late payment, chances are good that your card issuer may waive the late fee,” said CNBC. If you are in a position where you are not able to pay, your credit card issuer may be willing to help you figure out a plan.

What are the consequences of missing a credit card payment?

A number of things can happen if you miss your credit card payment, though the exact ramifications will depend on how far past due it ends up being.

Late fee: A late fee, typically of around $40, may apply the first time you miss a payment. If this is not your first time being late, that fee could be higher.

Penalty APR: When you’re “over 60 days late with a credit card payment, you can get slapped with a higher-than-average APR — usually around 29.99%,” said U.S. News & World Report. This may go back down again after meeting certain requirements, such as making a particular number of on-time payments.

Loss of certain benefits: Issuers can “roll back your payment grace period, suspend your card, remove promotional interest rates, take back rewards and more,” said Credit Karma.

Drop in credit score: The “longer you go without paying and the higher your original credit score, the greater the impact on your credit score will likely be,” said Credit Karma. Keep in mind, however, that issuers typically do not report late payments until they are at least 30 days past due.

How can you avoid missing another payment in the future?

If missing a payment is a one-off thing, your issuer may be willing to work with you. But make it a repeat occurrence, and the repercussions can get even more extreme. To avoid it happening again, consider setting up autopay to cover at least the minimum due (though just make sure you maintain a bank account balance to cover that amount).

If you are not comfortable having the payment automatically deducted from your bank account, you can also set up a payment reminder for yourself, whether that is a calendar notification or a text or email alert from your issuer.

The global incidence of dementia is increasing at a much faster rate than previously known, according to new research. Cases could double by the middle of the century, with millions of people potentially at risk as the world’s population ages.

What did the study find?

An estimated 11.3 million people were diagnosed with dementia in 2023. That figure is expected to jump to 24.7 million diagnoses in 2050, according to research published in the journal JAMA Neurology. The estimate, a 118.5% increase, is based on “data from 38,418 people across 22 population-based studies spanning 18 countries and territories on six continents,” said the researchers at Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW). Overall, the rate of dementia diagnosis is 9.7 new cases per 1,000 people.

Dementia incidence is “higher among women than men and substantially higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries,” said UNSW. This marks a change from prior research, as a large part of what’s known about dementia has “historically come from high-income countries, despite some of the greatest future increases being expected in lower-resource settings.”

What can be done?

The results of the study “highlight the growing need for dementia prevention, diagnosis and care as populations age,” said USA Today, especially as dementia “already affects more than 57 million people worldwide.” Dementia is “not a future problem.” It’s an “accelerating epidemic crisis that demands immediate attention,” said Dr. Liron Sinvani, the director of research and innovation at the Northwell Institute for Healthy Aging, to HealthDay.

There’s some good news on the research front. For the “first time, we can compare dementia incidence across a geographically diverse group of populations using the same statistical approach, giving us a clearer picture of where and among whom new cases are occurring,” said lead study author Dr. Ashleigh Vella. Understanding risk factors among different groups will be “critical” in developing a prevention and care response to “populations facing the greatest future risk.”

The link between depression and disrupted daily rhythms has long been recognised. But research has now suggested there is a whole new subtype of depression – “circadian depression” – caused by “people’s body clocks being out of whack”, said New Scientist.

It affects an estimated one in four people with severe depression, according to a large-scale population and genetics study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. But treatment with standard antidepressants like SSRIs seems to be less effective, and causes more side effects.

What is ‘circadian depression’?

It is “characterised by disrupted sleep, low energy and reduced physical activity during the day”, said Nature. It appears to be linked to dysregulation in the body’s internal clock and seems to affect women more than men. Depressive symptoms tend to start at an earlier age than with other forms of depression, and, although seasonality can aggravate them, it doesn’t necessarily trigger them, like seasonal affective disorder does.

The study researchers asked 11,380 people with severe depression to fill out surveys about changes in their symptoms and sleep patterns. Nearly a quarter (23%) met at least three of the researchers’ six proposed criteria for circadian depression. This was “not a formal diagnosis”, said The New York Times, but evidence of a “suggested subtype”. The criteria are: waking up feeling “very tired” regardless of sleep duration; identifying as a “night owl”; going to sleep later than most people; sleeping longer when most depressed; sleeping in on non-working days, and experiencing strong seasonal changes in sleep, mood, appetite or energy.

Moreover, analysis of participants’ saliva indicated that those who fell into the proposed subtype had genetic variants linked to a higher risk of developing ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, a high body-mass index and insulin resistance. This indicates that circadian depression is “not just depression with bad sleep, but actually there is an underlying biology that is quite distinct from other forms of depression”, the study’s lead author, Emiliana Tonini of the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, told the press.

How might it be treated?

What’s “critical” about this circadian type of depression is “its poor response to the standard therapies”, study co-author Ian Hickie, a psychiatrist at the Brain and Mind Centre told The Guardian. Those affected could benefit instead from treatments, such as melatonin or light therapy, that specifically target the body’s circadian rhythms .

The coordination of your body clock “underpins your mood, your metabolism, your concentration, your sleep-wake cycle and many other key factors”, said Hickie. You can help reset your body clock by exposing yourself to daylight in the morning and maintaining the rhythm and regularity of your sleep-wake cycle, while avoiding artificial light, large meals and exercise once it gets dark.

“Light is the most powerful signal for keeping our circadian rhythms in sync with the outside world,” Sophie Bostock, founder of The Sleep Scientist, told The Independent. “It helps us feel alert during the day and supports the timing of sleep at night.” In the autumn, after the clocks go back and mornings are dark, try to find an opportunity to get outside during working hours. “Even on a cloudy winter day, outdoor light is usually much brighter than indoor lighting.”

What are the caveats to the study?

Circadian depression is “a plausible” condition, said US chronotherapeutics expert Michael Terman. But the study findings don’t establish a new diagnosis, or prove that circadian depression will respond to different types of treatment, he told The New York Times.

A “significant limitation” of the study, acknowledged by its authors, was that the participants “self-reported their sleep-wake cycles”. It’s not clear whether “they did so accurately”. They were also mostly of European ancestry, which “may limit generalisability”. Further, more diverse studies are “needed to replicate our findings”, the researchers said.

The study also didn’t consider the impact of menopause, which is “predominantly one of the things that women describe as causing sleep disturbance”, Australian psychiatry professor Jayashri Kulkarn told The Guardian. But managing to tie “certain types of depression to a specific genetic profile” will be “important for onward treatment”.

Leading scientists have called on the government to cancel cuts to the UK’s science budget that could force the closure of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, home to the world’s third largest telescope.

The Lovell Telescope – the brainchild of Bernard Lovell, the British physicist who worked on the government’s secret radar programme during the Second World War – became operational in the 1950s.

Since then it has offered up scientific breakthroughs beyond its creator’s “wildest dreams”, said A.S. Ganesh in The Hindu. "From quasars to black holes, and pulsars to gravitational lenses”, the Jodrell Bank Observatory has “played a crucial part in our better understanding of the universe”.

Why is the observatory under threat?

In July, UK Research and Innovation, the government’s non-departmental public body responsible for science funding, announced that Jodrell Bank would not be prioritised for further investment after its existing agreement ends in March 2028.

UKRI said it had to channel investment towards projects that deliver “the greatest long-term impact”. The agency has an annual budget of nearly £10 billion, but the government wants to make “substantial savings after cost overruns as a result of soaring electricity and staff costs at UK facilities”, said The Guardian.

Under the current arrangement, Jodrell Bank receives around £2.8 million per year. If it cannot secure further funding, it will have to cease scientific observations from April 2028. As well as risking the loss of 28 jobs at the site, closure would also affect nearly 3,000 scientists who use its observations in their research, said the BBC.

The scientific community’s reaction?

Scotland’s astronomer royal, Professor Catherine Heymans, spoke for many in the community when calling the decision “a real act of national self-harm”.

Last week, leading scientists including physicist Brian Cox, professor at the University of Manchester, which hosts Jodrell Bank Observatory, warned Chancellor John Healey that the threat to the UK’s largest telescope is “just the tip of the iceberg”, said The i Paper.

In an open letter, they argued that planned funding cuts of up to 30% for the wider particle physics, astronomy and nuclear sector will “cause lasting and possibly irreparable damage to the UK’s scientific capabilities”.

Will the government intervene?

The government has said it is “exploring” long-term options for Jodrell Bank. Earlier this month, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the House of Commons that he had recently met staff at the University of Manchester to explore potential solutions. Scientific decisions must be “made on the basis of the science”, he told MPs, “but that still doesn’t mean there isn’t a future for Jodrell Bank as an asset”.

Andy Burnham has also pledged to find a way to save the telescope. Attention now turns to Wednesday’s Budget to see if Healey will pull a surprise announcement out his red briefcase to secure the facility’s future.

Since the pandemic, mortgage rates have mostly been climbing. It’s looking like that trend is unlikely to reverse course in 2027.

In bad news for home buyers and sellers alike, economists at the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, are now “predicting much higher mortgage rates through the end of 2026 and into 2027,” said CNBC. Stubbornly high inflation is a major driver, as is the bond market. Here is what to know.

Could mortgage rates finally fall next year?

Probably not. Fannie Mae recently revised its previous projections for mortgage rates to adjust them even higher. As of mid-October, “rates are expected to average 7.4% in the fourth quarter of 2026 before climbing to 7.5% in early 2027, and could remain there for the rest of the year,” said NerdWallet. Previously, in September, Fannie Mae “predicted that the average 30-year mortgage rate would be 6.8% in the fourth quarter and 6.7% in 2027.”

While Fannie Mae is certainly a major player in the industry, as one of two government-sponsored enterprises that backs mortgages, it is not the only one forecasting that rates will head this way. Mike Fratantoni, a chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, has also predicted that “mortgage rates will remain elevated above 7% through the end of next year,” said Realtor.com.

Why have mortgage rates been persistently high?

There are a few major contributors. “Inflation is too high, leading central banks to raise short-term rates, while budget deficits and debt are unsustainably high, leading bond investors to push up longer-term rates,” said Fratantoni to MarketWatch.

Another contributing factor is that the “Federal Reserve also raised its benchmark rate for the first time in more than three years,” said CNBC. “Mortgage rates do not follow the Fed’s rate exactly, but they do react to how the central bank sees inflation going forward.”

How will elevated rates affect the 2027 housing market?

The current state of the housing market will likely foreshadow what is to come if rates stay around where they are now. As of this fall, “higher rates have already put the housing market in an early deep freeze,” with pending sales “down 8.5% in September year-over-year, according to Zillow,” said CNBC.

The reality is, the “higher mortgage rates go, the harder it gets for home buyers to qualify for a mortgage,” said MarketWatch. This has a domino effect, with home sellers in turn “struggling as buyers shy away from the market,” forcing price cuts. This can potentially provide a little more bargaining power for buyers who do decide to stay in the game.

Oxford Street has been a “key thoroughfare” in London since the capital was called Londinium, said The Times. “Where the Romans used chariots or animal-drawn carts, modern Britain filled Oxford Street with double-decker buses, black cabs and e-bikes. Until now.”

From today, after “2,000 years of traffic”, a half-mile stretch of the “nation’s high street” will be pedestrianised. The hotly contested measure has been championed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, but had been opposed by the local council.

What are the new rules?

Now all ordinary cars, buses, taxis, private vehicles, (e-)bikes, scooters and pedicabs will be banned between Selfridges and Ikea by Great Portland Street. Bus routes will be diverted to neighbouring streets, such as Wigmore Street, Henrietta Place and Cavendish Place.

Emergency vehicles will continue to have access at all times, and essential services for business will have designated overnight hours.

Oxford Street will become more like Times Square in New York, or the shopping streets of “La Rambla in Barcelona or Strøget in Copenhagen”, said the Financial Times. This change is certainly “welcome”, as the area has gone through a “bleak period” since the pandemic. Vehicle-free streets suit the modern and “changing nature of retail”, which emphasises marketing, displays and brands over transactions.

How did it happen?

The development comes after “years of proposals, abandoned schemes and political wrangling”, said London’s The Standard. Though there has been a debate “stretching back to the early 1960s”, the idea was first formally promised in Sadiq Khan’s election manifesto for London Mayor in 2016.

There was a consultation a year later, but plans were then abandoned after the Conservative-led Westminster City Council – which controls the area – withdrew its support. Pedestrianisation was “revived” in 2024, as part of Khan’s “wider transformation” of the area.

Why has it been controversial?

This “thorny issue” has “foxed mayoral administrations for years”, said the BBC. To circumvent the council’s rulings, Khan created a development corporation, a mayoral body that could take control of the area and assume planning powers from the council. Doing this in a semi-residential area was “unprecedented”. A development corporation been used only twice before – at brownfield sites developed for the Olympic Park in east London and Old Oak Common in west London.

However, it could only be permitted if it had the approval of central government. After Labour’s landslide election victory in 2024, Angela Rayner, the housing, communities and local government secretary, granted approval for the plan, which would have been “unlikely” in previous years.

Critics called the decision “anti-democratic”, said The Telegraph. Local residents are concerned that rerouting buses will cause congestion, and larger footfalls won’t be matched with adequate police resources or security.

For Khan, who has prioritised clean air throughout his tenure. this is a “political victory”, said The Guardian. The scale and importance of Oxford Street, with its millions of foreign tourists each year, will mean the £150 million scheme will be of “interest to city planners around the world”.

Is there more to come?

This is “only the first stage of a much bigger redevelopment”, said The Standard. Authorities will monitor and collect data over the Christmas period and begin developments in the spring for an “eventual permanent redesign” of Oxford Street.

By the start of next summer, visitors should see “more than 50 new trees, two new public squares and better signage”, said The Independent. “More than 100 new seats, dining tables and new lighting are also to be installed.”

Antibiotic-resistant shigellosis infections have been spreading in the U.S. Many are sexually transmitted and can affect the most vulnerable communities.

What are the symptoms and transmission methods?

Shigellosis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella. Associated symptoms include acute diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and fever up to seven days. In most instances, those with shigellosis are able to recover on their own, but patients with more severe cases may require antibiotics and hospitalization.

The primary way shigellosis spreads is through the fecal-oral route, usually from contaminated food and water. However, another transmission method has become increasingly prevalent: There is a “distinct and intensifying sexual transmission of shigellosis,” said a study published in The Lancet. Traditional preventative measures for the disease, like handwashing and food safety, are “not likely” to help with this type of spread.

The infection is most commonly passed between men who sleep with other men. “Many men who have sex with men are unaware of the serious and increasing risk posed by sexually transmitted Shigella,” senior study author Kate Baker said in a statement.

How common is it?

While there is public concern about the spread of the illness, there has not yet been a major outbreak. According to the most recent CDC data, almost 15,000 people have been diagnosed with shigellosis in the U.S. in 2026, and it has been found in 47 states. These numbers are similar to last year’s count. But there has also been a rise in the number of antibiotic-resistant cases.

Among nearly 17,000 Shigella species isolates with resistance data, extensively drug-resistant (XDR) isolates increased between 2011 and 2023, according to an analysis by the CDC. Most U.S. outbreaks “involved drug-susceptible strains and primarily affected children,” but “national surveillance data indicate that most XDR cases occurred among adult men.”

XDR shigellosis is risky for children and disadvantaged populations like the unhoused. The infection has “gone from being relatively treatable with off-the-shelf drugs” to being “close to untreatable over the course of the last decade or so,” said Baker.

In Brazil’s tightly contested presidential election, another contender is back in the spotlight: the outsized role social media plays in its politics.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused Meta of using “biased algorithms and AI restrictions“ to favour opposition candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, said The Associated Press. The son of the far-right former president, Jair, won 47% in the first round of the election compared with 45% for the incumbent.

Lula filed a complaint against the US tech company, claiming it had subjected his campaign to “unjustified reductions in reach”. It claimed Meta had artificially inflated accounts and adverts associated with Bolsonaro, a key ally of Donald Trump.

Meta denies wrongdoing, but ahead of the run-off on Sunday, “questions have festered over whether the digital arena has been a level playing field”, said Al Jazeera.

What is Brazil’s social media footprint?

Brazil is one of the world’s biggest markets for social media. The South American nation boasts about 180 million users, said Statista: more than three-quarters of the population. “Brazil is a power machine on the internet,” actress Fernanda Torres told Variety. “We’re heavy, heavy users.”

And with social media “eclipsing traditional advertising”, political ad spending on Meta’s sites has “grown at a breakneck pace”, said Al Jazeera. But critics warn this shift has “put political hopefuls at the mercy of Big Tech corporations and their biases”.

Left-wing actors in Brazil still “lag significantly behind the far right when it comes to digital communication”, said anthropologist Leticia Cesarino. The logic that underpins the attention economy is “structurally beneficial to the kind of alarmistic, simplistic, affect-laden far-right discourse”.

What are the allegations against Meta?

Google and TikTok are not allowing political advertising, which left Meta’s services as “the only large-scale channels for paid digital campaigning”, said The Guardian.

Meta temporarily disabled ads on Lula’s official campaign Facebook page. He was also briefly unable to boost his Instagram posts, while Bolsonaro could. Lula’s lawyers included this in “evidence” that Meta was “actively trying to interfere” in Bolsonaro’s favour.

Ekō, a digital advocacy non-profit coalition, published a report alleging that Meta had favoured Bolsonaro’s campaign. UN rights experts said reports of restrictions on Meta platforms were concerning. “Information, including from Meta employees, suggests that accounts linked to one side of the presidential race were disproportionately curtailed,” the experts said, without specifying which side.

What is Meta’s defence?

Meta called Lula’s allegations “false and unfounded”, said The Guardian, saying there had been “technical incidents” that affected campaigns from “different parts of the political spectrum”. But Meta’s own semi-independent oversight board said it was “concerned by recurring enforcement failures in Meta’s election integrity efforts”, citing Brazil’s election, where there had been an “over-enforcement of Meta’s fraud policies” against Lula.

Brazil’s top electoral court ruled that Meta could not “reduce the distribution of political contact, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance”, said The Associated Press. Meta says it has complied with the court order to treat both election campaigns equally.

“We apply the same rules to all candidates, parties and political viewpoints in Brazil,” Meta told The Guardian. “We do not suppress content to harm one side or give preferential treatment to any side.”

With mortgage rates high and seemingly only getting higher, it makes sense for potential buyers to wonder whether they can lock things in before they get worse. While a 7% interest rate might not be great, it’s still better than a rate of 7.4%.

The good news: “Locks are a common feature of mortgages” to “protect a borrower’s rate during the home-buying process,” said The Wall Street Journal. However, they can “vary in their fees, their conditions and the amount of time they cover.” Here’s what to know.

How can you lock in a mortgage rate?

A rate lock is essentially an “offer by a lender to guarantee the interest rate of your loan for a specified period of time,” said NerdWallet. For the duration of that period, the interest rate your lender had quoted you will not change — even if mortgage rates overall go up.

A rate lock will often last from the initial approval of your mortgage application through closing, though the exact timeline will depend on the specifics of the contract. “Typically, you can lock your rate for at least 30 days and in some cases up to 120 days or longer, depending on the lender and loan type,” said Bankrate.

Are there any downsides to rate locks?

One thing to look out for with a rate lock is whether a lender charges a fee for it. “Many lenders offer rate locks for free,” while others do not, and “some only charge when you extend the initial mortgage rate lock period,” said Bankrate.

Fees generally range from “0.5% to 1% of the total loan amount,” said Experian. And even if a rate lock is ostensibly free, the “cost is frequently baked into the loan pricing via a slightly higher interest rate or reduced lender credits,” said the Journal.

Another thing to be aware of is that while locking in your rate can offer peace of mind when mortgage rates are unpredictable or rising, a rate lock can also leave you stuck with a higher rate should rates fall. To cover this scenario, lenders may offer what is known as a float down option, which lets you drop your rate, though often for a fee.

When should you consider a rate lock?

A rate lock can make a lot of sense if there is a good chance rates could go up between when you apply and when you close. Even a slightly higher rate can have a big impact on both monthly payments and the total amount of interest you pay over the life of a loan.

“Consider a $400,000 home financed for 30 years at 7%, with a 20% down payment,” said NerdWallet. “Just a quarter point (0.25%) rise in interest rates will kick your principal-and-interest payments up $54 a month — from $2,129 to $2,183. Over just five years that additional amount will total $3,240.”

In order to reap the potential savings of a rate lock, you have to make sure the rate you’re quoted in the first place is a competitive one — and that it will last as long as you need it to. Before committing, make sure to shop around for a mortgage and consider the overall timeline of your home search.

Hackers in France recently set their sights on an unusual target: supermarkets. After hundreds of French grocers had their refrigerators hacked and taken offline, many are worried that attacks like these could become commonplace, including in the U.S.

How do hackers go after supermarkets?

In the case of the French hacking, criminals “remotely connected to refrigeration equipment” and “switched on defrost cycles that led to the loss of large quantities of fresh and frozen goods,” said CNN. Most grocery store fridges are connected to online controllers, allowing “maintenance firms to adjust the temperature remotely,” but this also makes the fridges vulnerable to hackers who can disable certain settings.

This isn’t the first instance of a widespread supermarket hack. In 2025, United Natural Foods, which supplies frozen foods to grocers in the U.S. and Canada, said it “discovered a cyberattack that forced it to take its systems offline,” said Al Jazeera. Also last year, conglomerate Ahold Delhaize USA, which owns grocery chains like Food Lion and Stop & Shop, was the “victim of a cyberattack that disrupted operations at more than 2,000 stores.” And British chain Marks & Spencer suffered a 2025 hacking that reportedly cost it $397 million.

How can this be prevented?

Most experts say consumers don’t have to be worried, for now. But it’s a different story for businesses. “Smart appliances connected to the internet will always be vulnerable as hackers seize on security lapses to log in to the systems remotely and trigger malicious features,” cybersecurity analyst Steven Lachance told Al Jazeera. These attacks also highlight “vulnerabilities in global food supplies that can be quickly and dangerously exploited,” said CNET.

To protect businesses, experts typically “recommend changing default passwords, enabling two-factor authentication where ⁠available and regularly ​installing software updates,” said Reuters. The “simplest rule is often the most ​effective: The fewer connected devices you have, the fewer potential entry points exist for attackers.”

Despite precautions, hackings of this nature still remain the “next frontier for sabotage attacks,” Muhammad Yahya Patel, the virtual chief information security officer at cybersecurity firm Huntress, said to Bloomberg. Technology has now been “weaponized against food retail infrastructure,” and the “immediate financial consequences are significant and visible.”

Social care was an “afterthought” during the Covid-19 pandemic, and government failures allowed the virus to “spread like wildfire” through care homes.

Those are some of the damning findings in the latest report by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Hallett. It focused on the “devastating” impact of the virus on adult social care in the UK. More than 43,000 people in care homes were recorded to have died with Covid between March 2020 and July 2022. Last year, a senior civil servant told the inquiry it amounted to “generational slaughter”.

Social care was an ‘afterthought’

All four UK governments initially focused on protecting hospitals. Adult social care “appeared to be something of an afterthought”, said the report. The “mantra of ‘protecting the NHS’ sometimes came at the expense of the users and providers of care”.

These failures “created environments in care settings in which the virus could spread like wildfire”.

Hancock’s ‘protective ring’ was false

Matt Hancock, then the health secretary, claimed ministers had “tried to throw a protective ring” around care homes “right from the start” of the pandemic. That claim was “unfounded”, said the inquiry. “Quite the opposite was true.”

“Unfounded is an understatement,” said Sky News. At the start of the pandemic, about 25,000 patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes – most without being tested for Covid – to “free up beds”. They and care home staff then received insufficient protection and guidance, “with devastating consequences”, said the inquiry.

The policy was later ruled unlawful by the High Court. Jean Adamson, speaking on behalf of bereaved families, called Hancock’s claim a “cruel lie”, said Sky News. Hancock isn’t commenting on the report.

Visiting restrictions did ‘immense’ harm

Elderly residents’ suffering was “compounded by draconian visiting restrictions”, said The Times. These caused “incalculable harm”, leaving people to die “abandoned and alone”, without “the comfort or support of their loved ones”, the report said.

Strict visiting limits were necessary at the start of the pandemic to protect people, but the “balance of harms” shifted; they increasingly did more harm than good, Hallett said.

The “profound isolation and sense of abandonment” caused by keeping them in place resulted in “immense emotional harm” to residents. Many whose loved ones died without them now remain “wracked with guilt that they do not deserve to carry”.

‘Desperate measures’ for protective equipment

Unsurprisingly, difficulties getting hold of personal protective equipment (PPE) were “a key theme of this report”, said the BBC.

Hospitals were “prioritised for supplies”, leaving care workers resorting to “some very desperate measures”. There were cases of workers “using festival waterproof ponchos, painters’ overalls and bin bags as makeshift PPE”.

Supply problems were a global issue, the report acknowledged, but better planning would have helped. The lack of PPE for care home staff was “wholly unacceptable”.

Social care was already ‘a concern’

A 2016 simulation exercise testing the UK’s response to a pandemic found the social care sector was a “particular concern”.

But when Covid-19 emerged, recommendations had “not been completed”, said the inquiry, leaving ministers to make decisions “without the information they needed”.

Millions of unpaid, “undervalued” carers were “heavily relied upon” without adequate support. The scale of death and suffering they witnessed was “unlike anything they had seen before”, said the report.

For the first time in years, applications are flowing in to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that controls web addresses, for new top-level domains. These proposed suffixes at the end of URLs will shape the internet’s next era.

What did the applications reveal?

ICANN has received 1,615 applications from 481 applicants so far, according to its Reveal Day announcement earlier this month. It is the “biggest shake-up” of internet addresses in “more than a decade” and could “result in you typing .fart to reach a website,” said The Times. While some domains are “quirky,” others show how “AI companies are seeking to grab domains like .agi, .superintelligence and .chatgpt.”

Ten different companies including Meta and OpenAI applied for the .agent domain, seven for .agi, and six including OpenAI for .asi, “attempting to get in on” Trump’s push to switch from artificial intelligence to super intelligence, said The Verge. OpenAI applied for 15 top-level domains, or TLDs, while Meta filed for 21.

This is the first time ICANN has accepted applications in over a decade. The nonprofit “first sought new top-level domain applicants in 2012,” said Politico, resulting in .app, .web and .pizza. Each application costs $227,000 and is “subject to, among other processes, a community input period that runs from November to March.”

Those awarded a domain “become registries, gaining control over the suffix,” said The Times. They can keep these for themselves or “sell the registrations under it to third parties.”

Who benefits?

The domain applications show that organizations worldwide are “seeking new ways to build trusted online identities, serve their communities and connect with internet users,” said ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist in a press release. But not everyone is enthusiastic.

Internet safety expert John Carr, who has attended ICANN meetings for a decade, is critical of the organization’s process. It’s a “conspiracy against the public good,” he said to The Times. Under its rules, ICANN is supposed to check the “real-world identities” of the people buying the domain names, but “they don’t.” These new domains are just “another way for them to make money.”

Israeli police have arrested 10 suspects in the occupied West Bank following attacks by Jewish settlers over the weekend in which a US journalist and European diplomats were among those injured.

Masked settlers beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine as she covered an olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah. The following day, settlers attacked diplomats from Belgium, France and Poland, as well as representatives of the Catholic Church, in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh.

Why is the harvest so significant for Palestinians?

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinian families depend on the olive sector for at least part of their income. Every autumn, thousands of families harvest olives that have sustained communities for generations. To many olive-growing communities, the harvest represents not just livelihoods, but cultural identity, family heritage and attachment to the land.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture estimates that olive oil production will reach approximately 21,000 tonnes this year, around a quarter of which would be surplus to domestic need and could be exported, said Palestinian News Network. But that yield is reliant on farmers being able to access and harvest their groves.

Settler attacks during this year’s olive harvest season have already surpassed the total for 2025. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has documented 199 olive-harvest-related settler attacks in the West Bank this season. These incidents resulted in one death, 124 injuries and damage to more than 2,500 trees and saplings.

Why is the season vulnerable to violence?

These attacks in the West Bank “are not new”, said Al Jazeera. Every year, “Israeli settlers and hardline groups use the olive harvest period to assert control over valuable agricultural lands”, including by “stealing crops, or building illegal settlement outposts and roads on private Palestinian property”.

This annual ritual of “assaulting farmers, burning or uprooting trees and stealing crops”, is “making it increasingly dangerous for Palestinians to reach and remain on their own land”, Ahmed Najar, a Palestinian political analyst and playwright, told the outlet.

The attacks are also designed to “deter international campaigners from accompanying Palestinian farmers, standing with them against settler violence and documenting the atrocities being committed”, he said. “The objective is not only to dispossess Palestinians, but to ensure that their dispossession happens without witnesses.”

What is being done?

The EU has condemned Israeli settler attacks, with a spokesperson for its diplomatic service saying it expects “full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season”.

The Israeli military has condemned Saturday’s attack on the EU diplomats and said it has opened an investigation into the incident. However, “despite the international condemnation”, the office of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has “questioned the video evidence and testimony” from what it calls “alleged” attacks, said the BBC.

The government is going to announce more “everyday fixes” to ease financial pressures for Britons and show that it can “rectify some of life’s little nuisances without needing to bust the budget”, said Politico.

Andy Burnham promised in his first cabinet meeting that there are “things that can be done, big and small” to help with the cost of living. He is now “lining up” more “feel-good announcements”, including today’s “crackdown on public transport ‘headphone dodgers’”.

What policies has the government announced?

Burnham has been busy making minor policy tweaks since he came into power. In July, he removed VAT from electricity bills and capped single bus fares across England at £2 from January. A month later, he announced restrictions on high-street vape and betting shops, revoking the Gambling Act’s “aim to permit” rule to make it easier for councils to refuse them.

Since then, Burnham’s team have brought forward a ban on auto-renewed subscriptions, planned to tackle misleading sale prices from retailers, and are introducing price displays for fuel on Google Maps.

New rules have also been introduced for air travel. In a post on X, Burnham announced airlines will be required to seat children under 14 next to an accompanying adult without any additional charge. Passengers will also be able to fix any name errors on their booking for free. To reduce the “stress” of flying, the government will make it easier for airlines to ban “disruptive” flyers flagged by other carriers.

Today, under a new “share the carriage, not the noise” campaign, the government announced that councils will be able to issue £100 fixed penalties to bus passengers if they play loud music, litter or vape while travelling. “Headphone dodgers” who refuse to turn down the volume on trains face penalties of up to £1,000.

Will the measures be effective?

With the Budget nine days away, the prime minister wants to “assure weary voters that the government has their backs” without making “too much of a dent in the chancellor’s spreadsheet”, said Politico.

This Budget will already be “difficult”, said The Guardian. Inflation and “soaring” borrowing costs, exacerbated by the Iran war among other factors, have “blown a £12 billion hole in the public finances”, which could force John Healey to consider tax rises and “spending cuts to fund plans to ease the cost of living”.

Some government special advisers “admitted they had some qualms about the drumbeat of small interventions”, with one unnamed source telling The Guardian “we risk looking twee”. The smaller fixes “might not, on their own, amount to very much”, said the paper, but Downing Street hopes that added together they can “make a difference and show the government is trying”.

Could more be in the pipeline?

Consumer campaigner Martin Lewis has launched the apolitical Small Ideas Initiative, designed to fix “life potholes” by informing government policy. Lewis has invested £175,000 of his own money in the project, and will ask the public for “simple, inexpensive and broadly uncontroversial changes that could make Britain work a little better”, said The Times.

With the help of the public and a “broad political panel”, he will present a shortlist of ideas to the government and local authorities, and campaign to get the proposals adopted.

The consensus is that Israel’s forthcoming election is one of the most consequential in the country’s 78-year history, and a defining moment for its political identity. It is the first since the 7 October attacks three years ago; and the first time voters have had a chance to pass judgement on the government’s failure to prevent that catastrophe, and on Israel’s prosecution of its subsequent wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

It could herald a reset in relations between Israel and its international allies, many of whom have been critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, particularly over Gaza. Above all, the election could herald the political demise of Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving PM, who has led the nation for all but 18 months since 2009.

What is the current make-up of Israel’s parliament?

The ruling party needs a majority of at least 61 seats out of 120 in the Knesset. Because of its proportional representation system – voters cast one vote for a national party-list – even the largest parties rarely win more than 35 seats, and Israel has always had coalition governments. At present, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud has 32 seats. To govern, it relies on two ultra-orthodox Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (with 18 seats together), the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionist and Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) parties (with 13 seats between them), and the centre-right New Hope party (with four seats).

The government is widely regarded as the most extreme Israel has ever had. The main opposition bloc – ranging from the remnants of the once-mighty Labor Party to secular, liberal Yesh Atid to the centre-right Yisrael Beiteinu – has more than 40 seats, but has refused to govern with Netanyahu since 2019, partly because he was the defendant in three corruption cases. Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am, representing the 20% of Israel’s population that is Arab, have ten seats.

And how likely is Netanyahu to lose?

The emergence of Gadi Eisenkot, a former general, and his newly formed centre-right Yashar party, has consolidated the anti-Netanyahu opposition. He is seen as the PM’s principal rival, and could replace him. However, according to most opinion polls, the election is too close to call. The Economist’s poll tracker suggests that Likud and Yashar are neck-and-neck, on 22 seats each; that Netanyahu’s coalition will fall short of the 61 seats needed for a majority; but that Eisenkot’s coalition is likely to fall short too.

What are Eisenkot’s credentials?

A former IDF chief of staff, Eisenkot served in Netanyahu’s war cabinet until June 2024, when he resigned with a scathing criticism of the PM’s revanchist strategy in Gaza. He launched his party, Yashar (meaning “straight” or “honest”) just over a year later; since then, it has steadily risen in the polls. Although without Netanyahu’s charisma, Eisenkot, the son of Jewish immigrants from Morocco, is widely regarded by voters as a man of integrity. His son, Gal Meir, was killed in Gaza in December 2023, during an operation to recover the bodies of two Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu’s allies have sought, somewhat unconvincingly, to cast him as too left-wing and squeamish to protect Israel’s security. In fact, as a general, he pioneered Israel’s “Dahiya doctrine”, named after Hezbollah’s stronghold in south Beirut, which calls for the overwhelming use of force against civilian infrastructure in areas from which attacks are launched; he also categorically opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

Are there other contenders?

Conceivably, there is Naftali Bennett, who served as PM in 2021-22 but could not keep his diverse coalition together. Another right-winger, and a former Netanyahu aide, he has merged his party with that of the centrist Yair Lapid, another former PM, under the banner “Yachad” (“Together”); but their party lags well behind leaders Yashar and Likud in the polls. Bennett also rejects a two-state solution. Lapid accepts it in theory, but thinks that it is not realistic for the foreseeable future.

How about the Arab parties?

They are on course to win at least ten seats in the Knesset. However, Eisenkot has ruled out a coalition with the Arab parties, only one of which (the conservative-Islamist Ra’am) has ever agreed to join an Israeli government (briefly in 2021). Their very participation has been the subject of controversy: on 2 October, Israel’s supreme court overturned a ban on them running in the contest at all. The ban had been imposed by the central elections committee, a political body dominated by Netanyahu allies, on the basis that the parties supported armed struggle against Israel.

So what would the opposition do differently?

In many respects, not much: the Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal has described Israeli politics as “50 shades of right-wing”. However, an Eisenkot coalition would establish a commission of inquiry into the 7 October attacks. It would seek to end the exemption of Haredi men from military service, an agreement dating back to 1948 that has become very controversial. It would roll back many of the judicial reforms introduced by Netanyahu, designed to give more control over the judiciary. It would also crack down on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank – though it would retain settlements authorised in Israeli law. And it would try to reset troubled relations with Israel’s allies.

And if Netanyahu wins again?

It would mean more of the same. Many liberal Israelis fear that a new Netanyahu coalition, again likely backed by the far-right, would take the state in an increasingly autocratic direction: comparisons to Hungary and Turkey are often made. For the first time in Israeli history, emigration has begun to outpace immigration: in the period 2023–26, more than 200,000 Israelis left the country.

Speculation is rife about how Chancellor John Healey will attempt to balance the books in his first Autumn Budget.

Healey will deliver the Budget on 28 October and with Labour pledging not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance and to keep the triple lock until April 2030, “targeted measures” on wealth, investments, pensions and property are “the most likely revenue-raising options”, said Rathbones.

The Treasury is facing pressures of “rocketing government borrowing”, said The Sun, driving fears of “painful tax hikes”.

1. Don’t act too early

Nothing has been confirmed, but there are rumours of changes to capital gains tax rates and pensions tax.

The “general consensus”, said Saga, is that it is unwise to make decisions based on “Budget rumour and speculation”.

It is worth reviewing transactions that are “already in the pipeline” and reassessing your tax position “if changes are ultimately announced in the Budget”.

There is an “annual rumour”, said Trustnet, that the amount that can be taken tax-free from a pension at retirement will be cut. But “acting early has risks” as reinvesting a withdrawn lump sum can breach HMRC’s recycling rules and lead to penalties.

2. Make use of existing tax allowances

We already know that the cash ISA allowance is being reduced to £12,000 for under-65s from April 2027.

ISAs remain one of the “most valuable tax shelters”, said Hargreaves Lansdown, so it is worth making use of the current full £20,000 allowance.

Married couples and civil partners have “additional flexibility” as they can move assets to each other without any tax liability and can “maximise two sets of tax-free allowances” including on capital gains tax exemptions.

3. Boost your pension contributions

A “limited number of taxes” could rise in the Budget, said The i Paper, due to manifesto pledges on income tax, VAT and national insurance, plus Prime Minister Andy Burnham has “ruled out” changes to stamp duty and council tax.

But income tax thresholds remain frozen and the chancellor could even reduce these for additional rate taxpayers. The impact of frozen thresholds could “continue to hit hard”, said FT Adviser.

It is therefore “worth seeing” if higher earners can increase their pension contributions to help “cut their income tax bill”.

4. Focus on what you can control

There is plenty of speculation about what will be announced in the Budget, said Coutts, but while “headlines come and go, your financial goals are likely to be longer term”.

Focusing on objectives is important, and it is also worth reviewing finances to “highlight opportunities that already exist, rather than speculating on changes that may never happen”.

5. Plan for what you know

There are changes announced in the previous Budget that you can prepare for such as the reduced cash ISA allowance from April 2027 and the inclusion of pensions for inheritance tax calculations.

These are changes “we already know about”, said The i Paper, so it is something “that people can plan for”.

This week’s deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia’s airports and energy facilities have renewed focus on the Iran-backed militia’s growing strength, as well as its potential to disrupt global oil supplies.

Saudi Arabia has now launched “a major offensive” to support the Yemeni government forces who are trying to drive the militia out of the territory they’ve gained over the past 12 years, said CNN. But the rebels “have so far held their ground”.

How did they gain power?

Formally named Ansar Allah (“helpers of God”), the Houthis emerged in the 1990s as an armed political and religious group championing Yemen’s Zaidi Shia minority. Initially fighting for more autonomy in their northern homeland, they took a lead role in mass anti-government protests when civil war broke out in 2014. They captured the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally-recognised government to retreat to Aden in the south.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war, insisting that Iran was supporting the Houthis, and led a nine-country coalition in a years-long effort to restore the Yemeni government. The coalition’s bombing campaign led to “one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises” and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, said The New York Times. But the Houthis survived, “cementing their power” over northern and central Yemen.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 led to peace talks but these broke down after Israel launched its campaign against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

How have they grown so powerful?

A 2024 report to the UN Security Council concluded that support and training from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps had helped the Houthis transform from “a localised armed group” to “a powerful military organisation”. Their forces had grown to an estimated 350,000 fighters – up from just 30,000 in 2015. The Houthis had also been forcibly recruiting large numbers of children and Ethiopian migrants, using them as human shields, spies and for dangerous mine-planting.

While Iran is believed still to supply expertise, as well as “cutting-edge components like guidance systems”, the Houthis can now “manufacture much of their weaponry domestically”, said The Associated Press. They have “little aerial and naval power” but have been “increasingly turning to drones”, said Middle East Eye. These are very effective against pro-government forces, which lack “effective air defences”, global security consultant Wolf-Christian Paes told the news organisation.

How much of Yemen is under Houthi control?

The Houthis control between a quarter and a third of Yemen, but that portion is home to around three-quarters of the population. The militia “rules over its impoverished territory with an iron fist”, said The New York Times. The Houthis are the de-factor regime in northern and western Yemen, while the Yemeni government “controls much of the rest of the country”, said Al Jazeera. The Houthis have recently grown more powerful, “consolidating control over major cities and pushing to seize others”, said CNN. In September, they seized control of key locations along the Red Sea coast, giving them leverage over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is vital to global shipping.

“Half of the story is Iranian support,” international affairs professor and Yemen specialist Thomas Juneau told AP. The other half is “the weakness of their adversaries”. The anti-Houthi forces are “deeply divided” in the loyalty either to Saudi-backed government troops or to UAE-supported southern separatists, while Yemen’s recognised government remains “fragmented”, disunited and corrupt. The Houthis “have systematically been able to exploit that”.

If something sounds too good to be true — like 0% interest on a credit card — then it’s smart to ask questions. While a credit card advertising a 0% APR generally does not charge interest on qualifying purchases or balance transfers for a period of time, there is a lot of fine print to read. Here are four key things to know before you apply or start swiping.

1. The no-interest period is only temporary

The 0% interest “only lasts for the duration of the introductory period, and once it ends, the card will revert to its regular APR (the exact rate is determined based on your creditworthiness),” said NerdWallet. Exactly how long this period lasts can vary widely from card to card. Some may offer 0% APR for just 12 months and others for as long as 21 months. Regardless, you will want to know exactly when it ends, because standard credit card APRs are usually well into the double digits.

2. The 0% APR may not apply across the board

Be aware that a 0% APR may not apply to everything, since a single credit card can have multiple APRs. While “just about every 0% APR offer is for new purchases made with the card,” known as the purchase APR, only “some of these introductory offers also feature 0% on balance transfers, but not all do,” said NerdWallet. Further, even if the offer is for both types of APRs, the length of the promotional period may not be the same for each of them.

3. You could lose the rate if you do not abide by the rules

When you “miss a payment or make a late payment on a 0% APR credit card, the terms of the offer likely stipulate that the issuer could nullify your promotional offer,” said Bankrate. “This also happens if you don’t make at least your minimum payment each billing cycle.” In some cases, these missteps may result in the penalty APR applying, which is significantly higher than the regular purchase or balance transfer APR.

4. You will owe interest if any balance remains after the promo period

If you are not able to pay off your full balance before the promotional period ends, you could see your credit card balance balloon. This is where it becomes particularly important to pay attention to the fine print. While a standard 0% deal “charges interest only on whatever remaining balance exists after the promotional period ends,” it is also possible to instead end up with a deferred interest offer, which works differently, said The Washington Post. For that, “if you can’t pay by the deadline, you get hit with backdated interest, which can amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars.”

“Netanyahu knew” – that was the verdict of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as it reported allegations that Benjamin Netanyahu was warned about the 7 October attacks.

A string of claims that Arab officials warned the longtime Israeli PM that a violent attack was coming have put him on the defensive less than 30 days before the nation’s crucial elections. Netanyahu has said the reports are an “absolute lie” and threatened to sue the paper.

What are the claims?

The claims “began to trickle out” last month in a book by two Israeli journalists called “Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment”, said The Washington Post. It details an encrypted call reportedly made by the Emirati president, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known as MBZ, less than two weeks before 7 October 2023, to warn Netanyahu about a planned attack. Netanyahu did not pass on the warnings to his security aides, according to the authors, Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.

The PM was also warned of an impending attack by Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kamel allegedly phoned Netanyahu just days before 7 October, adding to warnings from the previous month, when he is said to have flown to Israel to inform security officials in person that Hamas was planning a major assault, claimed the paper.

“We know that Egypt’s chief of intelligence flew to Israel on 26 September and warned Israel of a… Hamas attack,” Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera. “We also know that similar messages came from MBZ.”

How might they affect the election?

According to polling, events surrounding the attacks and “questions over responsibility for security failures that preceded them” are “important issues” for voters in the parliamentary elections to be held later this month, said the outlet.

But the polls have “held relatively steady in recent weeks”, said The Washington Post. Jonathan Rynhold, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, said Netanyahu’s loyal base and Israel’s mainly right-leaning electorate may not move their votes to the “centrist bloc led by Eisenkot without a ‘clear smoking gun’”.

Naftali Bennett, the leader of the Beyachad (Together) alliance, said that if the allegations were proven true, Netanyahu “cannot continue to serve in his position for another minute”, while the former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who leads Netanyahu’s Likud party in the polls by the “slenderest of margins”, said, “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for 7 October and ignored them all. He is unfit.”

Many of Netanyahu’s electoral rivals, including Eisenkot, have promised to immediately establish an independent commission of inquiry if elected.

What does Netanyahu say?

Netanyahu has strongly denied ever receiving any warning of an attack. The Israeli PM said the report that he was warned by bin Zayed was an “absolute lie” and denied he even spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.

The Israeli PM has tried to “shift the blame” for not being warned of the attack to the former head of Israel’s internal security service, Ronen Bar, said Al Jazeera. Bar announced last month that he would sue the prime minister, a “longtime political nemesis”, for defamation over the claims.

Kristi Noem was ousted from her role as Homeland Security secretary in March 2026, but her final moments as the agency’s head are under renewed scrutiny due to airplanes she purchased for DHS. These transactions are especially controversial because they were reportedly made through one of Noem’s political donors.

What did Noem do?

Noem purchased the vehicles on her last morning as DHS secretary, paying at least $304 million for five airplanes from the Daedalus Aviation Corporation, according to a report by The New York Times. The prices that Daedalus sold the planes for were “millions of dollars higher than the typical market value for jets of that age,” said the Times, and included a Gulfstream jet purchased by Daedalus for $83 million but resold to DHS for $106 million. In all, Noem acquired 10 airplanes throughout her 14 months at the department.

One of the agency’s purchases included a Boeing 737 that was “converted into a massive private jet, complete with a stand-up bar, two bedrooms, marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin,” said the Times. The purchases are coming under additional fire because the head of Daedalus, William Walters, is one of Noem’s donors and gave “$10,000 to political action committee American Resolve, which supported Noem,” said NewsNation.

What has the fallout been?

Many have criticized Noem for the purchases. The deal “smacks of Noem making money for a former donor and saddling American taxpayers with the cost, without any benefit to them or the government,” said The New Republic. Some were especially angry that Walters was essentially “given a no-bid contract to acquire planes for deportation flights, acting as a middleman by buying planes from elsewhere and reselling them to the government.”

Noem has denied any wrongdoing regarding the plane purchases. The Times’ report was “dishonest” and “factually incorrect,” she said on X. While not disputing that the planes were bought, Noem rejected the characterization of Walters as a donor because he “did not personally make political contributions to Secretary Noem.” The Times “stands by the characterization of the political donor and his firm,” the outlet’s public relations department said in a response on X. Walters’ donation was given to a “group that existed to support Ms. Noem.”

We may be about to call time on the leap second, which for decades has kept Coordinated Universal Time (the global standard underpinning timekeeping systems) in sync with the Earth's daily rotation.

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is convening its governing body for its General Conference in Versailles this week, as it does every four to six years. The timekeepers had already voted in 2022 to phase out the leap second by 2035. “But now there is a spanner – or spinner – in the works,” said the Financial Times. Earth has been rotating unusually rapidly for a decade, meaning that before 2035, there’s a chance we’d need the first-ever negative leap second – in other words, deleting a second. Scientists say this unprecedented step could “create mayhem in the digital time-stamped continuum”. The guardians of time are therefore considering an urgent draft resolution to fast-track the phase-out of the leap second.

How do we measure time?

“For millennia, a day has been defined as one full rotation of the Earth,” said physics and astronomy professor Vahe Peroomian on The Conversation. Ancient Egyptians were the first known civilisation to divide day and night into twelve parts each, establishing the 24-hour day.

Dividing hours into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds, harks back to ancient Mesopotamian numerical systems, which were based on the concept of 60. Greek astronomers like Claudius Ptolemy adopted the system while measuring the motions of planets, dividing degrees into 60 units. These subdivisions were adopted worldwide for timekeeping, dividing each hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds.

But it took many centuries before devices, such as 17th-century pendulum clocks and 20th-century quartz watches, “became accurate enough” to measure seconds, said BBC Future.

What’s the problem with astronomical timekeeping?

The speed of the Earth’s rotation can fluctuate, so defining a second as a fraction of a solar day is imprecise. In 1967, the General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted a new definition of a second based on the cesium-133 atom, which oscillates at “a remarkably steady rate”, said Peroomian. One second was defined as 9,192,631,770 oscillations. Atomic clocks use cesium-133 to give us Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): the super-precise global standard used by telecoms, computer networks, international businesses and power grids.

So what are leap seconds?

Atomic clocks run at a fixed rate but – apart from right now – Earth’s rotation has been gradually slowing, primarily due to the Moon’s gravitational pull. To keep UTC in sync with Earth’s rotations, timekeepers invented “the leap second” in 1972. This “interloper” allows the two systems of time – astronomical and UTC – to “run in parallel”, said the Financial Times. Once the lag reaches a certain point, a leap second is inserted to “yank them back in alignment”. At irregular intervals, 27 leap seconds have been added to global clocks since 1972 – the last in 2016.

Why are they being phased out?

Leap seconds have become “increasingly difficult to deal with in the computer age”, said ABC News. They can disrupt computer operating systems, which assume a day is always 86,400 seconds long, resulting in glitches and outages. But the prospect of the first negative leap second poses an even greater risk. “Many computer programmes assume all leap seconds are positive”, Setnam Shemar, the UK’s principal timekeeping scientist, told the FT. Removing a second could “result in a major technology failure in telecommunications or electricity grid networks or satellite navigation systems”.

This week, the world’s timekeepers will vote on introducing a “leap hour” instead. This could take “a millennium or more” to accumulate and, by then, life may be so different, there may be no need to adjust the lag at all. All this change “would be a practical win for tech overlords, digital gatekeepers and official clock-watchers” but it could be “something of a cultural loss for our stargazing species, detaching human timekeeping from its ancient, astronomical roots”.

Looking to invest beyond your 401(k)? Opening a brokerage account could make sense. These accounts allow you to buy and sell a variety of investments, from stocks and bonds to ETFs, mutual funds and even cryptocurrency. And unlike retirement plans, they do not have limits on contributions or withdrawals.

You may find, however, that there are also seemingly unlimited options when it comes to brokerage accounts to choose from. Here are the key criteria to consider on your quest to finding an account that supports your investing goals, whether it be learning about stocks or building wealth (or both).

Investment and trading options

“Not all brokerage accounts offer the same menu of investments,” so “knowing what you want to invest in will help you narrow down your choices,” said The Motley Fool. Some may focus their offerings on more hands-off investment options, like mutual funds, while other brokerage accounts are tailored for investors participating in more advanced strategies, like futures trading, in which case execution quality may matter more. Do not overlook the platform itself, either — you want to make sure it feels navigable and in alignment with your intended uses.

Commissions and fees

Cost is an important consideration when choosing a brokerage, as there can be some variance when it comes to trading and management fees. But do not automatically assume the least expensive option is right for you. Discount brokerages “charge significantly lower fees than their full-service counterparts but also offer fewer services,” and they will require you to make your own investment decisions, said Investopedia. Some investors may prefer the guidance of a full-service brokerage, despite the added cost.

Tools, research and educational resources

Especially “if you’re new to investing, it may be best to look for a brokerage that offers free educational resources, such as live webinars, thorough how-to guides, video tutorials, glossaries and more,” said NerdWallet. Investors pursuing more complex, advanced strategies, on the other hand, may be looking for in-depth market analysis and monitoring and analysis tools.

Customer service

“Ask your broker what the firm does to support its customers. Does the firm return calls promptly? Does it offer explanations when something goes wrong?” said U.S. News & World Report. When your money is on the line, you want to know. Also consider what your preferred format of communication is, whether that be live chat or a phone line, and if a particular brokerage offers that.

User experience and reputation

If you have found a few potential accounts that seem to meet your needs, digging into a brokerage’s reputation and general user satisfaction can be a deciding factor. What types of investors are typically using the platform? Are there any widespread, notable complaints? You will also have the choice between newer names and longstanding institutions. While not having years under their belt “doesn’t mean these newcomers are untrustworthy,” keep in mind “it does mean they may be unproven during a variety of stock market scenarios,” said NerdWallet.

Home warranties may feel like a catch-22: They can offer some financial protection in case something big breaks in your house — think a major appliance or your heating and cooling system — but they also add an extra cost to your monthly budget. And they do not always cover everything.

The good news: If you are weighing a home warranty, there are some clear considerations that can make the whole decision feel a bit less like guesswork. Here is what to know.

What do home warranties cover?

In short, a home warranty “covers appliance and system repairs related to wear and tear from everyday use,” said NerdWallet. This can include large appliances like your washer and dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher and garbage disposal, or systems such as plumbing, heating, A/C and the electrical system.

What a home warranty will not cover is “your home’s structure, foundation, walls or workmanship,” said RocketMortgage. It also will not cover systems and appliances under certain conditions, such as if the item was not “specifically listed in the contract,” or if the breakdown is due to a “problem that predates the contract” or “from anything other than regular wear and tear.” Same goes for if the item was “modified or installed incorrectly” or “you made the problem worse by trying to fix it yourself.”

When is a home warranty worthwhile?

On a “strictly financial level, home warranties have the potential to pay for themselves if covered items malfunction and need repairs or replacements cost more than what the customer pays for the plan premium and service fee,” said Forbes. But because you cannot predict what unexpected home repairs may arise, or when those issues may occur, home warranties are “generally best for homeowners who have appliances and systems reaching the end of their lifespans,” said Forbes.

Same goes for if you recently bought a home and are not totally sure of the status of various systems or appliances. In these scenarios, having a home warranty can make your future repair bills a little less unpredictable.

Just bear in mind that “there could also be a preexisting condition — even if it wasn’t evident to you when you bought the home warranty — that allows the provider to deny coverage,” said Consumer Reports. This is another gamble of these warranties. There is also a risk if anything is too old, as “many home warranties pay less to repair or replace older items through a process known as depreciation,” said NerdWallet.

When should you skip a home warranty?

A home warranty generally will not be worthwhile if you already have protection in place. For instance, “new-home appliances may already be covered,” and “even if your appliances aren’t new, they may still be under warranty if you made the purchase with a credit card” since some cards “extend warranty length,” said Consumer Reports.

It is also worth noting that when you request a repair under a home warranty, you may only be able to work with a technician in their network, rather than your preferred repair person. In some cases, “you might have to wait longer for appointments than if you’d hired a repair company on your own,” said NerdWallet.

Finally, there is the ultimate risk: “You may pay for it for years without actually using it,” said Forbes. Or you might pay for it, only for the repairs you end up needing not to be covered.

Establishing an emergency fund is likely something you know you should do. Setting aside the funds to make it happen, however, can be another story, especially with the ever-rising costs of living and other savings priorities.

But if you ever find yourself in a pinch — whether it be from a surprise medical bill or a pricey but nonnegotiable car repair — you will be very glad to have an emergency fund stashed away. You may otherwise find yourself taking on debt to cover the cost, which will just add another worry to your financial plate. Here are three tips to help you start building.

1. Figure out your target number

Savings goals are often easier to meet the more concrete they are. If you just have a vague idea in mind, like saving enough money to cover a potential job loss, it can be trickier to accomplish because there is no clear end goal.

While you may hear some experts “recommend you save three to six months’ worth of expenses for emergencies,” in truth, the “amount you need for emergency savings can vary based on your own financial situation,” said Bankrate. You’ll want to consider “how stable your income is, your level of risk tolerance and whether you have children or other dependents,” all of which will influence what an appropriate buffer is for you. Generally, though, you want to define your typical monthly costs (making a budget is a good way to figure this out), then aim to be able to cover those from your emergency fund at least a few times over.

2. Have a plan for how you will fund it

Just as important as knowing how much you need to save is figuring out how you will achieve that balance. But “instead of focusing on one large savings goal, focus on smaller, attainable monthly goals,” as “this can help you keep the habit of saving regularly and make the overall task less daunting,” said NerdWallet. Maybe you aim to set aside a certain amount each month, such as $50 from every paycheck. Automating that amount to move from checking to savings each time your paycheck hits can make it that much easier to do consistently and regularly.

Do not overlook the impact of any financial windfalls, either. Even just putting a portion of your tax refund or annual bonus into your emergency fund can give it a good boost.

3. Be strategic about where you keep your money

Where you keep your emergency fund parked and waiting can make a difference in how quickly it grows. But “while investing your money can bring higher returns, it can also come with losses, especially if you have to sell quickly in the event of an emergency,” said Experian. Instead, keep your emergency fund in a liquid account — meaning one that is easily accessible when you need it — but that still earns some interest. A high-yield savings account is often an ideal candidate, as you will earn interest above the low rates that standard savings accounts offer but still be able to easily access your money in case of, well, an emergency.

At present, England’s adult care system is “one of the most threadbare in the developed world”, according to Thea Stein of the Nuffield Trust, which has analysed the arrangements of 11 comparable nations and regions. England is an “outlier” in that eligibility for any public funding at all is strictly means-tested.

The most generous system is in Denmark, where the state pays 100% of care costs, with no means test. Those in residential care do get billed for bed and board, but means-tested housing benefit is available.

Australia has a similar system, also funded by general taxation. In most cases, bed and board have to be paid for, but there are a series of daily spending caps on different elements, such as food and hotel costs.

Japan, with the oldest population in the world, introduced a tax on all over-40s in 2000, ring-fenced for care. Everyone who needs it is given a monthly care allowance. They contribute 10%-30% of costs, depending on income; total contributions are capped.

A similar insurance system operates in Germany, but with no cap. Individuals usually pay half of costs. Unusually, adult children can (in rare cases) be liable to pay for parents’ care if the parents run out of money.

The execution by firing squad of former US Army major Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed for the public to watch, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

This will make it the first public execution in the US since 1936, and the prospect has already been described as “medieval”.

Who is he and what did he do?

Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in November 2009, injuring another 32. The attack took place in a crowded medical building where soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccines. It was the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base.

He admitted in court that he was the gunman, and said that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He apologised for “any mistakes” but was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

Why is it being livestreamed?

Hegseth signalled that the execution would be livestreamed as a deterrent for the sort of crime Hasan committed. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” he said.

The US government is sending “a very clear message”, said Sky News US correspondent David Blevins. Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert and law professor at Fordham University, New York, told The Associated Press that livestreaming an execution could make the process “much more transparent”, and inform the public about all that capital punishment entails. Those are benefits that she said would be useful at a time when Christa Pike’s botched execution has raised fresh questions about the manner by which criminals are put to death.

What’s the reaction been?

The Republican senator Thom Tillis said the plan is “beyond disgusting”. Chris Murphy, a Democrat senator, told CNN that public executions are “medieval” and mimic Islamic State killings. “That’s what America has become? That’s pretty extraordinary.”

Livestreaming “will not educate”, it will “terrorise”, and is “beneath the dignity that we owe to anyone”, even those who commit a “horrific” crime such as Hasan’s, Austin Sarat, a legal expert in the death penalty at Amherst College, Massachusetts, told The iPaper.

The decision to livestream the execution is “unprecedented in the modern era” and “on uncertain legal terrain”, John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death, told the BBC.

The livestream may face a legal challenge because federal regulations forbid the “visual or audio recording” of an execution without a specific judicial order.

The Department of Justice is revoking the citizenship of 40 naturalized citizens who have been accused of various crimes. The sweeping effort is in line with the Trump administration’s escalation of immigration enforcement.

Who is being targeted?

This week’s announcement marks the “largest denaturalization effort in modern history,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche in a press release. From an “individual convicted of espionage” to those convicted of other serious offenses, the defendants “concealed critical facts” from the government and “represent serious criminal offenders.” Under Trump’s leadership, the DOJ will “continue to employ the denaturalization process” to “maintain our national security” and “protect the American people.”

The denaturalization petitions were “lodged against the 40 individuals” between Aug. 10 and Oct. 2, said Time. They are accused of a variety of crimes, including “child sexual abuse, fraud and tax evasion.” Not all are “convicted of or pleaded guilty to violent crimes,” said USA Today. At least “19 of the 40 people” face denaturalization proceedings for “reasons related to accusations of lying on visa forms.”

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a federal court can revoke naturalized U.S. citizenship if the government establishes that the citizenship was “illegally obtained or procured through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation,” said Newsweek.

How does this fit into Trump’s larger agenda?

The Justice Department has “made denaturalization a priority” under the Trump administration’s “hard-line immigration crackdown,” said Newsweek. In June 2025, the Justice Department’s Civil Division in an internal memo directed attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence.” The guidance cited “fraud or willful misrepresentation in obtaining citizenship, certain criminal conduct and national security concerns” among the grounds for pursuing cases, said Newsweek.

What used to be a “rare process reserved for the most egregious offenders” has become “common during Trump’s presidential terms,” said Time. At one point, Trump “leveled the threat at his political enemies” like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and tech titan and “on-again, off-again ally” Elon Musk. The administration allegedly plans to file at least 250 denaturalization cases by this October, according to an unnamed senior Justice Department official, per CNN.

When the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was revealed today, “all eyes in the literary world” were firmly fixed on Stockholm, said Deutsche Welle.

But the announcement of 76-year-old Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson as this year’s laureate marked the end of a lengthy, secretive selection process that began more than a year ago. And the world’s most prestigious literary award has, according to Euronews, “generated more controversies” than any of the other Nobel Prizes.

Who chooses the Nobel Prize laureates in literature?

Awards are chosen by the Swedish Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. The 18 members, known as “De Aderton” (The Eighteen), are currently made up of “distinguished Swedish writers, linguists, literary scholars, historians, and a prominent jurist”, according to the Nobel Prize website. They have tenure for life.

How do nominations work?

In September last year, the Academy’s “Nobel Committee” sent out hundreds of invitation forms to individuals and organisations eligible to submit nominations. These include literature and linguistics professors at universities, previous Nobel laureates in literature, and the heads of writers’ associations in various countries. The committee can also add names, such as past laureates. The list “can reach 200 names per year”, Gisele Sapiro, research director and Nobel Prize expert, told DW.

Those who don’t receive an invitation but are still qualified to submit nominations can do so – but no one can nominate themselves. That said, “there’s a tradition of writers lobbying for the prize by giving talks in Gothenburg or Stockholm and then flirting with Academy members over drinks”, said the Financial Times.

The Committee screens submissions after the January deadline and, over the next few months, “whittles down the nominations” to five candidates. The 18 then read and assess the work over the summer, confer in September, and vote in early October. The winner must receive more than half the votes. He or she takes home 12 million Swedish kronor (about £910,000), as well as a “lifetime of laurels”, said LitHub. But the public – and nominees – don’t learn which authors made the shortlist until 50 years later. Some authors are considered year after year, but never win.

What are they looking for?

In his will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the prize should go to the writer of the “most outstanding work in an idealistic direction”. The Academy “spent decades puzzling over what ‘ideal’ meant”, said the FT, before “quietly dropping the criterion”.

Last year, the prize went to Hungarian modernist László Krasznahorkai, for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that in the midst of apocalyptic terror reaffirms the power of art”. The prize is given to a writer’s body of work, rather than one book.

According to Sapiro, the Academy is looking for ambitious, influential literature that has spawned a new literary movement. The work must also be “universal, being able to transcend its own culture”, she told DW. Translations are key: most laureates are translated into English, French and German – “these three languages are the most important”. It’s also a “major advantage” if nominees have already won other prestigious literary awards, she said, such as the International Man Booker Prize.

So far, only 33 out of 122 laureates have come from outside Europe. Only about 15% of winners have been women, but since 2018, the prize has alternated between a man and a woman. Genre doesn’t seem to matter: in 2016, Bob Dylan won the prize for his song lyrics.

Why is it so controversial?

Possibly the most controversial winner was Peter Handke in 2019. The Austrian writer was a “known denier of the Bosnian genocide”, as well as a “close supporter” of former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević, said Euronews. Hundreds protested, and several countries either condemned the award or boycotted the ceremony. Even Bob Dylan’s fans were “baffled” by his selection.

“The prize is ritually mocked,” said the FT’s Simon Kuper. Because achievement in literature is more subjective than in the sciences, the decision “reliably angers critics”. There is also a “comic discrepancy between the weight of the prize and the parochialism of the judges”. Some of the 18 are “obscure even in Sweden”. They have also awarded eight Nobels to Sweden: more than Asia, Africa or Latin America have each received.

But the prize still “shapes the global canon – even if the globe can push back”. Dylan’s award may have been “ridiculed”, but it “sparked a global debate on what constitutes literature”. The prize can also “turbocharge sales”, which benefits small presses that publish literature in translation. It also gets authors’ names trending on social media, far beyond their countries. In a world where reading is “in decline”, the prize matters more than ever.

Increasing numbers of workers are opting out of their workplace pensions to save money, but there are risks to be aware of.

All employees are automatically enrolled into workplace pension schemes if they are over the age of 22. But a “growing number” of Gen Z and millennials are choosing to opt out, “due to cost-of-living pressures”, said BBC News.

However, the over-60s are “consistently the highest rate of any age group” opting out, said Fidelity International, but this “may not be the right decision and could cost them dearly”.

Why people are opting out of workplace pensions

Saving for retirement is, of course, sensible but with a “cost-of-living crunch and compressed real wage growth ”younger workers are “prioritising having money in their pockets now”, said Investors’ Chronicle.

Some over-60s may also feel they have enough for retirement or have a health issue that reduces life expectancy, said Fidelity, so their priorities “may understandably change”.

How to opt out of your pension scheme

If you wish to opt out of your pension scheme, your employer will tell you the scheme you are enrolled in. To leave, you will need to contact the provider directly.

Businesses “must not actively encourage their staff to opt out”, said the Pensions Regulator, so it must be your own decision.

You can opt out within a month of being added to your employer’s scheme, and you will get back any contributions. Once you have been enrolled for a month, any contributions will usually stay in your pension fund until you retire.

Other options include reducing the level of your contributions, although there is a minimum of 5% of pay for employees and 3% for employers.

The benefits of opting out

The “main benefit” of opting out, said Legal & General, is getting your hands on extra cash. This can be useful if you have “new financial commitments, or changed your spending priorities”.

But while it can seem an “easy way” to pocket more money each month, said TPT Retirement Solutions, it can have a “surprisingly large impact” on the plans you have for your golden years.

The drawbacks of opting out

Opting out of a workplace pension is like giving up “free money”, said Armstrong Watson, as you lose employer contributions and government tax relief.

It is easy to underestimate the impact of “even a few years of missing pension contributions” though, said The Times, especially when you are young.

Your retirement is more likely to be comfortable “if you can save over the longest time possible”, said MoneyHelper.

You will miss out on potential investment growth if you opt out from your pension, which can slow down your savings, said Legal & General, which means “you might end up having to fill the gap by working for longer, later on in life”.

Opting out isn’t a “one-time decision” though, said LV, and you can usually rejoin your company’s workplace scheme. But this can be a “lengthy process” so you will miss out on any benefits and investment growth in the meantime.

When mortgage rates are high, many buyers are less inclined to make a home purchase. This can end up being bad news for sellers.

Conventional wisdom has called for staying put until rates cool off. But with “mortgage rates on the cusp of topping 7% for the fifth year in a row, it might be time to stop waiting for lower rates to put your home on the market,” said The Wall Street Journal. It may also be a good time to get more strategic.

How do high mortgage rates affect home sales?

Higher mortgage rates squeeze the budgets of buyers. Because “rising mortgage rates reduce purchasing power even when home prices change little,” prospective buyers may “lower their target price or postpone a purchase,” said U.S. Bank. Buyers are also likely to be more cautious and critical about making an offer. When rates are high, they are “quick to walk away from homes that are overpriced or in poor condition,” said the Journal.

For sellers, this means they may not sell their home for as much as they want or get it done as quickly as they want. While there are exceptions, “most sellers can no longer count on a swift sale,” said the Journal. They may also be forced to make concessions and address issues they may have otherwise avoided in a seller’s market.

What can you do to sell when mortgage rates are high?

When buyers are price-sensitive, “pricing your home correctly from the start is one of the most important things you can do,” said Homie, a real estate technology company. “Overpricing can scare buyers away, while smart pricing can lead to more offers — and even a bidding war.”

If you do get an offer, it’s worth being a little flexible. Although “five years ago, sellers could say no to repairs and rely on a backup offer,” today, it “might pay to provide a reasonable credit or fix the problem,” said Chris Wands, a Douglas Elliman real estate agent, to the Journal. It could additionally help to offer concessions, like paying closing costs, in order to make the sale.

Last but not least, it is vital that your home is in tip-top shape when you begin showing it. “Standing out from the competition is particularly important when interest rates are high because buyer traffic will be lower,” said REMAX.

Is it worth staying put instead of selling?

“When you look at the actual numbers, the high mortgage rates seller’s dilemma makes sense,” said REMAX. Still, “homeowners waiting to sell their homes due to high interest rates need to think about the whole picture.” Consider what the trade-offs are of postponing a move you want to make, and factor in the possibility that home prices themselves could go up while you are waiting for mortgage rates to fall.

It’s worth pointing out that staying where you are and selling are not necessarily the only two options on the table. As a third path, “owners holding ultralow fixed-rate mortgages can take advantage of the strong rental demand,” said Ben Dixon, another Douglas Elliman agent, to the Journal. “High rents might cover carrying costs, generate cash flow and allow the owner to hold on to their low-cost debt until the market takes a turn for the better.”

Concerns are sweeping across Russia and the world after a laboratory technician reportedly died from pneumonic plague in Siberia. Many more people are now being quarantined. But health officials in the United States say there is no reason to worry about a global outbreak, at least for the time being.

What happened in Russia?

A 28-year-old researcher at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute of Siberia in the town of Shelekhov died last week after being infected with pneumonia of “unknown” origin, according to Russia’s public health agency, Rospotrebnadzor. The disease is now possibly believed to be pneumonic plague, an illness “caused by bacteria, Yersinia pestis, famous for causing the Black Death, that remains with us today mostly in animals across parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas,” Simon Clarke, a professor of cellular microbiology at the U.K.’s University of Reading, said in a statement.

The disease is deadly but “generally treatable with antibiotics if identified quickly,” said Clarke. After the researcher’s death, “dozens of people were reported to be in isolation,” even as Russia claimed “no microorganisms associated with the employee’s professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient,” said CNN. The head of Rospotrebnadzor later arrived in Shelekhov to hold an emergency meeting about a “particularly dangerous infection,” said Russian news outlet IRK. It was originally reported that the worker who died caught the disease from a broken test tube, which Russia has denied.

What next?

Given the similarities to the alleged coronavirus lab leak cover-up, some people have “likened the reports coming out of Russia to those that circulated in the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020,” said Time. But for now, experts are saying a similar pandemic is unlikely. It is “important to remember that pneumonic plague is a very different disease,” Clarke said. U.S. officials say they will continue to watch for updates.

The State Department has also sent a letter to Moscow warning that its “failure to disclose details about the death of a lab worker from a plague research center in Siberia runs counter to its international health obligations,” said The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. is “monitoring it closely,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters. “I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus.”

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, aka FAFSA, is the key to securing federal-, state- or school-based financial aid, from student loans to grants and work study funding. But when you are in the thick of admissions essays and applications, or just another semester’s worth of schoolwork, filling out a stack of paperwork may feel like the last thing you want to do.

The good news: This year the FAFSA may be a little bit less of a headache. “We’ve simplified it,” said Department of Education Under Secretary for Higher Education Nicholas Kent to ABC News. “Instead of it taking hours or even days to fill out, it takes 15 minutes on average.” Plus, applicants will have more time to get it done, thanks to the form for the 2027-2028 school year launching “earlier than ever before.” To make the process even easier, here is what to know ahead of time.

What information does the FAFSA request?

The first section of the FAFSA collects basic personal information such as your name, date of birth, contact information and Social Security number. You will also be asked to answer questions about your personal circumstances, which will determine whether you qualify as a dependent or independent student for financial aid purposes. Demographic questions, like your race and ethnicity, also appear in the form, though these are “used for research purposes only and not factored into your aid eligibility,” said SoFi.

The next — and likely more time-consuming — section collects information about your financial situation. You will need to report your federal tax information and details on any financial assets you own, as well as child support or federal benefits you receive. You will also be asked to list any colleges or career schools you are applying to.

If you’re a dependent student, the FAFSA will also request information about your parents and their finances. Students who are married will need to provide details about their spouse.

Which documents will you need to complete FAFSA?

When filling out the FAFSA, you will generally need the following:

• Social Security or Alien Registration number
• Most recent tax return
• Records of income, such as W-2s
• Balances of cash, checking and savings accounts
• Investment information
• Details on net worth of businesses or farms, if applicable
• Records of child support payments, if relevant

To access the form, you will also need to have a StudentAid.gov profile. Setting one up requires your name, date of birth, email address and Social Security number.

When should you aim to submit your FAFSA?

Ideally, as soon as you can. “For the best chance at receiving available financial aid, submit your FAFSA as soon as possible after the application becomes available,” said Sallie, a student loan resource and lender. “Filing early gives colleges more time to prepare your financial aid offer and may improve your chances of receiving aid that has limited funding.”

Technically, though, the 2027-2028 FAFSA deadline is 11:59 p.m. Central Time (CT) on June 30, 2028.