Morning Briefing: Monday 28 September 2026
- Fuel: Brent jumped 2.6% to $107.04 overnight after the president rejected Iran’s plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran refused to soften its terms. Pump prices follow crude upwards with a lag of a few weeks.
- Borrowing: The ten-year gilt yield rose to 5.39% and the American equivalent to 5.21% as dearer oil revived inflation fears. Gilt yields are the benchmark that fixed mortgage pricing is built on.
- Rail: Services on the west coast main line pass into public ownership when Avanti’s contract ends on 7 March. The operator says the change will cause minimal disruption.
Trump Expects Talks to Resume: 'They Overplayed Their Hand'
A day after rejecting Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the president said he expects negotiations back under way within the week. “They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make,” he said. “It is…
Eight Killed in Ukraine, Three at a Children's Centre in Sumy
Russian strikes killed eight people across five regions on Sunday, the day after Moscow told the General Assembly it would pursue its war aims regardless. The interior minister, Ivan Vyhivskyi, said a children’s centre in Sumy was hit, kil…
Trump Asked Xi if China Would Like to Buy American Weapons
The American ambassador in Beijing said the president justified a pending arms sale to Taiwan by casting it as one of many, then offered Beijing the same. “President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the worl…
Taiwan Breaks Ground on a Drone Centre and Courts Democratic Allies
Lai Ching-te told a groundbreaking ceremony in Chiayi that the island must build its drone industry with partners rather than alone. “From the Ukrainian battlefield to Indo-Pacific regional security, unmanned systems have become important…
France's National Rally Quadruples Its Presence in the Senate
The National Rally and its allies took a record 14 seats in the 348-seat upper house, roughly quadrupling their number and clearing for the first time the ten-seat threshold needed to form a caucus. Marine Le Pen called it an “historic vic…
Healey to Promise a 'New Age of Industrialisation', but No Budget Detail
The Chancellor’s first conference speech is a shipbuilding pitch rather than a fiscal one. “Our coal mines are not coming back,” he will say. “This is the new age of industrialisation.” He will confirm three floating docks at Faslane, proc…
Iran Is the Leading Line of Inquiry Over the Fairford Plot
Five men remain in custody, uncharged and unnamed, after armed officers stopped three vans heading for the airbase Britain lets America use to strike Iran. Investigators examining materials found in the vans took the initial view that they…
Drumcree Blockade Lifts Overnight as Bryant and Boutcher Agree to Talks
Thousands held the Garvaghy Road all day and the thirty-five Orangemen never walked it. Around midnight the residents’ coalition told the crowd it had commitments the parade would not proceed overnight, and announced meetings this morning…
Avanti West Coast to Be Nationalised From March
Services on the west coast main line will pass into public ownership when the operator’s contract ends on 7 March, the government has announced. Ministers cast it as part of a plan to cut delays and improve the passenger experience. Avanti…
Unison and Rail Unions to Picket the Conference Over Settlement Rules
Britain’s biggest union demonstrates outside the conference today, demanding care workers be exempted from the Home Secretary’s settlement plans, under which the wait for indefinite leave to remain rises from five years to ten for most wor…