Evening Briefing: Saturday 26 September 2026
- Fuel: The week’s one route to cheaper fuel has closed. Mr Trump said on the record that he rejects Iran’s offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, so the blockade and the war premium both stay. Brent settled Friday at $104.32.
- Care work: A decision on settlement rules is due “imminently”. Around 180,000 care workers who arrived between 2022 and 2024 face waiting up to fifteen years for indefinite leave instead of five, with many otherwise qualifying in 2027.
- Disability benefits: A review due next month will recommend that severely disabled 16 to 24-year-olds get swift, unconditional support instead of repeated assessments. It lands three weeks before the Budget on 28 October.
'I Reject Their Proposal': Trump Turns Down Iran's Hormuz Offer
What was a briefed account this morning is now on the record. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president said: “I reject their proposal… I rejected their deal.” He added: “They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait imm…
Pezeshkian: Iran No Longer Trusts Washington
Iran’s president flew home saying the door is open but the faith is gone. “We have no trust in the American side and do not know on what basis an understanding can be reached with it,” he said, adding after meeting the UN Secretary-General…
Seven Killed as Russia and Ukraine Trade Strikes Overnight
Four people were killed in Ukraine, two of them women trapped under the rubble of their destroyed home in Zaporizhzhia and two in Sumy, with four more injured across Kyiv districts. Three were killed and two wounded in Russia’s Krasnodar r…
British Man and Greek Wife Among Six Killed in Athens Blast
Rescue workers recovered six bodies from a three-storey building destroyed by an explosion in Plaka, the tourist quarter between the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. A British man and his Greek wife, both reportedly in their seve…
Tigray Forces Seize Three Airports as the Fighting Spreads
Tigrayan forces have taken the airports at Mekelle, Axum and Shire, disrupting civilian flights, and the fighting has spread from southern Tigray into the Afar and Amhara regions, with overnight combat in the Afar border town of Abala. Eth…
Burnham Arrives in Liverpool Promising to End 'a Decade of Drift'
The Prime Minister reached his first conference as leader pledging “good growth in every postcode, hope in every heart”, and framing the week around a break with the recent past: “We’ve had a decade since Brexit and it’s been a decade of t…
Heathrow's Third Runway Slips Four Years to 2039
Airport bosses have told ministers the 2035 opening date set by the previous chancellor cannot be met, pushing the runway to 2039. The scheme is costed at £49bn, with planning permission sought by 2029 and the parliamentary vote on the pla…
Rayner Stands By Her Attack as Ministers Deny a Cabinet Rift
Angela Rayner repeated that the fifteen-year settlement rule is “very disruptive” for care workers “asked to come to this country to care for some of our most vulnerable”, and that the Home Office “changed the goalposts years down the line…
Review to Urge Fast-Track Benefits for Severely Disabled Young People
Alan Milburn’s youth-employment review, due next month, will recommend that 16 to 24-year-olds with the most severe lifelong needs receive swift, unconditional support rather than repeated assessments. It could cover profound and multiple…
Memorial Unveiled to the Schoolboys Killed by Infected Blood
A bronze memorial was unveiled at Lord Mayor Treloar School in Alton to the haemophiliac pupils infected with HIV and hepatitis through contaminated blood products. Of 122 who attended between 1970 and 1987, only around thirty were still a…