Financial markets predict one-in-five chance of quarter-point rise in interest rates when Bank of England decides on Thursday Business live – latest updates UK inflation has returned above 3% as soaring fuel and transport prices triggered by the Iran war heap renewed pressure on British households. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show inflation as measured by the consumer prices index rose from 2.9% in July to 3.1% in August. The increase, which matched City forecasts, was driven by motor fuel prices rising by almost a quarter. Continue reading...

Damaging budget report estimates cost will grow by $3bn per month and stockpiles of weapons could take five years to rebuild The US House of Representatives has voted for a third time to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution a few hours after a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report showed the conflict had cost at least $38bn and left America’s stockpile of defensive missiles so depleted it could take five years to rebuild. The final tally of 220-204 was similar to earlier votes, with a few more Republicans joining most Democrats in calling for an end to the war. None of the resolutions have made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto them. Continue reading...

Estimated 100,000 Yemenis displaced amid renewed fighting as Qatar sounds alarm over Bab al-Mandab strait Saudi cities faced the threat of a second day of Houthi attacks as fighting across Yemen led the UN to warn of a humanitarian crisis with 100,000 Yemenis already displaced. As oil prices remained well over $100 (£74) a barrel, Qatar warned of a catastrophe if the Iran-backed Houthi militants won full control of the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow waterway at the bottom of the Red Sea dominating the key naval route to Asia. The strait has become vital to Saudi crude oil exports as the wider Middle East war chokes the strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. Continue reading...

The militant group in Yemen captured the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, near the chokepoint of the Bab al-Mandab strait Yemen’s Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis. The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group’s swift advance across Yemen’s Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait. Continue reading...

Soaring oil prices of above $108 a barrel after Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure stoke inflation fears US government borrowing costs have risen to 5% for the first time since 2023 as soaring oil prices fuelled by the war in the Middle East trigger an intensifying sell-off in the global bond market. The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year US Treasury bonds hit the psychologically important threshold on Monday, on a day of renewed selling pressure on Wall Street as the global oil price reached $108 a barrel. Continue reading...

Critics say segment about airman’s rescue was made to boost public perception of Trump’s unpopular war A US airman has spoken of climbing a 7,000ft ridge with a broken back, arm and shoulder after he was shot down in Iran – and of being rescued by a team of American special forces as hostile locals closed in on him. The air force colonel, identified only by his codename Bravo, appeared on camera Sunday night on CBS’s 60 Minutes in a segment some critics have labelled Pentagon propaganda to boost public perception of Donald Trump’s unpopular war . Continue reading...

Rampant Yemeni fighters take control of island in narrow point of Bab al-Mandab strait, which Saudi is relying on for oil exports Why the rapid Houthi advance matters and what’s at stake Yemen’s rampant Houthi forces have captured the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait, expanding their control of the narrow waterway, one of the ​world’s vital shipping routes. The Iran-aligned Houthis took control of the volcanic island after forces allied to the UN-backed, Aden-based government left in the latest of a dramatic series of reverses along Yemen’s west coast in recent days, including the loss of the port city of Mocha on Thursday. Continue reading...

Borrowing costs climb in Europe and oil tops $105 a barrel as bank says growing price pressures in eurozone will be ‘longer lasting than we had anticipated’ Business live – latest updates The European Central Bank has raised interest rates to 2.5% and warned that the risk of higher inflation over the next year has risen following renewed fighting in the Middle East. It came as government borrowing costs soared on the back of a jump in oil and gas prices after the latest US and Iran attacks on ships in the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...