Britain is the most inflation-prone nation in the G7. That was true before the Iran war

Heavy reliance on imported energy and food leaves the UK extremely vulnerable

https://www.telegraph.co.u...

The Latest: Standoff escalates after Iran closes Strait of Hormuz over US blockade

Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The escalating standoff over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence a new deal was within reach.
The strait is closed until the U.S. blockade is lifted, Iran’s Revolutionary Gu

Amid wars and soaring energy prices, IMF says the global economy is on the brink of recession

By
Rob Schmitz
,
Daniel Ofman
,

https://www.npr.org/2026/0...

Iran ceasefire deal a partial win for Trump - but at a high cost

In the end, cooler heads prevailed – at least for now.
At 18:32 Washington time, President Donald Trump posted on his social media website that the US and Iran were "very far along" with a "definitive" peace agreement and that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire to allow negotiations to proceed.
It wasn't exactly the last minute, but with Trump's looming 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT on Wednesday) deadline to reach a deal or the US would launch massive strikes against Iranian energy and transportation infrastructure, it came pretty

Iran war ceasefire pushes energy markets into twilight zone

Commentary
Ron Bousso

https://www.reuters.com/bu...

Donald Trump's good news might be short-lived

PUBLISHED
APR 07, 2026 AT 09:14 PM EDT
Oil futures tumbled on Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced a two‑week ceasefire with Iran, offering a rare moment of relief for energy markets rattled by weeks of war and threats around the Strait of Hormuz, but the administration will have to tread carefully if they want those benefits to trickle down to American consumers.
The Trump administration has been plagued by an economy that's falling well short of Americans' expectations for the president. It's contributing to the drop his approval

4 ways Trump has suggested the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened — and why they're a tough lift

President Donald Trump made clear Tuesday that the fate of the Iranian people — and their civilization — is in his hands as he threatens to bomb them back to the “stone ages.”
But the Iranian regime has a trump card too: continuing its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint so vital that decisions made today could determine the global economy for months, even years, to come. Oil and gas shortages as a result of Iran’s blockade have already caused a crisis in parts of Asia

Trump's Hormuz deadline looms but Asian nations have already struck deals with Iran

On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to take out Iran "in one night" if it failed to agree a deal by 20:00 Washington DC time on Tuesday (00:00GMT Wednesday) to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But even before his latest threat some countries had secured deals with Tehran for their vessels to use the key shipping route.
Asian nations - most recently the Philippines - have been particularly keen to reach agreements as their economies are heavily reliant on energy from the Gulf.
The critical route ha

Moscow is profiting from the Iran war for now — but experts say Russia's economy is in the 'death zo...

Russia has found itself in the curious position of benefiting from the turmoil hitting its Middle East partner and ally, Iran.
Tehran’s almost total closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused global oil and gas prices to surge, filling the coffers of major oil and gas producers like Russia.
Sergey Vakulenko, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told CNBC Tuesday that Russia’s windfall from the Iran war resulting energy price growht ran into the billions of dollars.
“So

MARA Dumps $1.1 Billion In Bitcoin To Cut Debt By 30%

MARA Holdings said they sold 15,133 Bitcoin for approximately $1.1 billion between March 4 and March 25 to fund the repurchase of its 0.00% convertible senior notes.
MARA, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin miner expanding into digital energy and
AI infrastructure, announced a major balance sheet restructuring on Thursday.
The company said they sold 15,133 Bitcoin for approximately $1.1 billion between March 4 and March 25 to fund the repurchase of its 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2030 and 2031.
The company will repurchase $367.5 million

What’s next for Bitcoin price amid Iran war and oil prices surge

Bitcoin’s price dipped hard on Thursday as war in the Middle East escalated, sparking fears of an energy crisis, before rebounding.
Iran hit Qatar’s main gas plant, Ras Laffan, causing billions of dollars in damage. The strike came after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday dampened investor hopes of interest rate cuts later this year.
“We’re seeing a double-whammy for risk ****** ets,” David Lawant, Anchorage Digital’s head of research, told DL News. “Crypto isn’t immune to these macro headwinds.”
Bitcoin dropped to under $69,

U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Could Help Solve Colombia’s Energy Crisis

Colombia’s natural gas production is spiraling ever lower, with the hydrocarbon sector impacted by tax hikes and leftist President Gustavo Petro’s reforms aimed at weaning the country off its dependence on fossil fuels. This forced Bogota to significantly boost costly liquified petroleum gas (LPG) imports to meet domestic demand and ensure the stability of Colombia's electricity grid. Those imports are straining government finances and the economy at a time of fiscal crisis. Nonetheless, U.S. President Donald Trump’s i

Cuban protesters ransack Communist office as energy crisis deepens

Protesters in Cuba have ransacked a Communist Party building following a rally over steep food prices and persistent power cuts, in a rare show of public dissent.
Five people were arrested after a small group vandalised the offices in the central city of Moron overnight into Saturday, Cuba's Interior Ministry (Minint) said.
Discontent among Cubans has been mounting as the island is buffeted by rolling blackouts and shortages of food, fuel and medicine, exacerbated by a prolonged US oil blockade.
The protest came hours aft

Protests erupt in Cuba as US restrictions spark food, energy shortages

Protesters in central Cuba have torched a local communist party office, as conditions on the island continue to deteriorate under severe restrictions from the United States meant to squeeze the economy.
Authorities said on Saturday that five people were arrested amid what the government called “vandalism acts” in the city of Moron.
“What began peacefully, after an exchange with the authorities in the area, degenerated into vandalism against the headquarters of the municipal committee of the Communist Party,” the state-

Iran War Delivers Windfall to America’s Oil Country

https://www.wsj.com/busine...

Israel says Iran war entering 'decisive phase'

Israel said the war against Iran was entering its "decisive phase" on Saturday, as explosions rocked cities across the Middle East, with strikes on the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirati energy facility.
Washington's embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone, security sources told AFP, the second time it has been targeted since February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and plunged the Gulf into a conflict that has sent shockwaves through the global economy.
Millions have been displaced by waves of drone, missile and aerial

Iran war: What is happening on day 15 of US-Israel attacks?

The United States-Israel war on Iran, now in its third week, continues to escalate after US forces struck military targets on Kharg Island, the critical hub through which most of Iran’s crude exports pass.
US President Donald Trump said Washington deliberately spared the island’s oil infrastructure but warned that it could be attacked if Iran interferes with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran, meanwhile, has warned that any attack on its energy facilities would trigger retaliation against regional oil infrastructure an

Sunak to advise Zelensky on economy

Former British prime minister takes up unpaid role on council formed as Kyiv looks to rebuild energy sector

https://www.telegraph.co.u...

Here's some science trivia for you: unlike the inner retina in most animals (including us), birds' inner retinas function without oxygen. And now, researchers led by a team from Aarhus University in Denmark have figured out how.
In the retinas of almost all vertebrates, the oxygen required to convert glucose into sufficient amounts of energy for cells to function is delivered courtesy of red blood cells.
Not so with birds: there are no blood vessels in the retina, so oxygen can only arrive by diffusion through the surface, making the inner retina anoxic (without oxygen).
Cells can squeeze e

Magnetic avalanches on the sun reveal the hidden engine powering solar flares

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
A giant solar flare on our sun was powered by an avalanche of smaller magnetic disturbances, providing the clearest insight yet into how energy from our star is released in a torrent of high-energy ultraviolet light and X-rays. The discovery was made by the European ***** e Agency (ESA) Solar Orbiter mission, which is imaging the sun from closer than any ***** ecraft before it.
Some solar flares can result in c

Bitcoin’s network hashrate fell to its lowest level in seven months over the weekend as a powerful winter storm swept across the United States, forcing miners to scale back operations amid surging energy demand and widespread power disruptions.
Key Takeaways:
A US winter storm pushed Bitcoin’s hashrate to a seven-month low as miners curtailed operations to ease grid strain.
Network power fell over 40% before partially recovering.
Miners scaled back operations to help stabilize electricity grids.

https://finance.yahoo.com/...

A 2,000 year old battery, or just a very interesting pot?
This is the debate that’s been swirling over the fragments of a puzzling artifact discovered in Iraq nearly a century ago. Dubbed the “Baghdad battery,” it’s believed to have originally been a clay jar housing a copper vessel, at the center of which was an iron rod. This arrangement, either by coincidence or design, could’ve allowed it to function as a primitive galvanic cell, some archaeologists argue — a primitive energy storage device pioneered in the Western world by Alessandro Volta, after whom the “volt” was named.
These are tou

‘Walking sharks’ lay eggs without breaking a sweat

Being pregnant and giving birth is hard work for any species—but epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) might disagree.
These fish and a number of other species are known as “walking sharks” for their ability to traverse both the seafloor and land with their fins. But as of now, that’s no longer the coolest thing about this rather adorable predator. Epaulette sharks’ energy use didn’t change during their reproduction cycle, as described in a study recently published in the journal Biology Open.
“Reproduction is the ultimate investment

Trump says U.S. used secret 'Discombobulator' to disable Venezuela's equipment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. used a secret weapon he called “The Discombobulator” to disable Venezuelan equipment when the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro. Trump also renewed his threat to conduct military strikes on land against drug cartels, including in Mexico.
Trump made the comments in an interview Friday with the New York Post.
The Republican president was commenting on reports that the U.S. had a pulsed energy weapon and said, “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it.

Their eyes were watching. Some knew something was wrong. Others were slow to realize. Soon everyone came to grief.
Forty years ago ***** e Shuttle Challenger climbed into the clear amid blue skies over Cape Canaveral. The nation’s youth watched on TVs across the nation and from school playgrounds across Central Florida.
Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in ***** e.
But the streak of the rocket’s plume did not look right.
“We definitely didn’t know what happened at the time, but you could feel the energy of the teachers,” said Elizabeth Wisner Stroz, now 51, then an 11-year-old

A laser-beam dream team has been **** embled to advance nuclear fusion, the near-limitless energy source that is being researched in labs around the world.
The promising effort has pooled knowledge from scientists at the United States Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, bringing together "heavyweights" of laser expertise, according to a news release.
If the effort is successful, the group could help usher in a new era of air pollution-free nuclear power — minus the long-lasting radioactive waste and meltdown risks of current

Their eyes were watching. Some knew something was wrong. Others were slow to realize. Soon everyone came to grief.
Forty years ago **** e Shuttle Challenger climbed into the clear amid blue skies over Cape Canaveral. The nation’s youth watched on TVs across the nation and from school playgrounds across Central Florida.
Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in **** e.
But the streak of the rocket’s plume did not look right.
“We definitely didn’t know what happened at the time, but you could feel the energy of the teachers,” said Elizabeth Wisner Stroz, now 51, then an 11-year-old in

Ukraine's grid operator says energy situation has 'significantly' worsened

KYIV, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine's energy situation "significantly" worsened on Friday after recent Russian air attacks, triggering emergency power outages in most regions, Kyiv's grid operator said.
The grim ***** sment followed a remark by Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday that Ukraine's energy system had endured its most difficult day ‌since a widespread blackout in November 2022, when Russia began bombing the power grid.
In new comments on Friday, Shmyhal said the situation with ‌the grid remained diffi

In preparation for winter, the common shrew (Sorex araneus) shrinks its brain by 30 percent to conserve precious energy. Then, come spring, the shrew miraculously 'regrows' its shrivelled brain, neurons fully intact.
Scientists have now traced the evolutionary origins of this rare adaptation and the genes that likely enable it. While fascinating in its own right, this information may also spark new approaches to understanding and treating human brain degeneration.
Related: The Stem Cell Secrets of This Tiny Worm Could Help Unlock Human Regeneration
The unusual adaptation is known as Dehnel'

Scientists are taking a step toward developing a nearly limitless power source.
As Interesting Engineering detailed, researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany designed materials that can withstand conditions in the innermost chamber of future fusion reactors.
The team collaborated with laser-fusion company Focused Energy on the project.
The goal was to design more durable materials for the first wall of fusion reactors. That's the part of the reactor that holds plasma and protects the rest of the device from conditions formed by the plasma.
Fusion occurs naturally in