7 h. ago United, American, Delta suspending flights to Middle East amid Israel

United Airlines has suspended some flights to Dubai while American Airlines halted flights to Doha, Qatar, on Thursday

Politics

9 h. ago War in Middle East 'to push oil price to $100': Experts sound alarm as Israel and Iran trade blows

Brent crude - the global benchmark for oil - reached a five-month high above $78 a barrel as Israel and Iran exchanged missile attacks.

Events

13 h. ago Rhetoric heats up and modern missiles evade defences as the conditions are set for yet more violence in the Middle East

Israel’s rhetoric has gone up into the use of the N (azi) word as the battlespace is being shaped for more bloodletting, World affairs editor Sam Kiley reports from Tel Aviv

Events

13 h. ago Trump denies report that he has approved US attack plans against Iran

US president says Wall Street Journal ‘has no idea’ what his thoughts are on Israel-Iran conflictMiddle East crisis – liveDonald Trump has denied a report in the Wall Street Journal that he has approved US plans to attack Iran, saying that the news outlet has “no idea” what his thinking is concerning the Israel-Iran conflictThe Journal reported late on Wednesday that Trump told senior aides a day earlier that he had approved attack plans but was delaying on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program. The report cited three anonymous officials. Continue reading...

Politics

17 h. ago Mapped: Where Iran and Israel’s missiles have struck as Tehran hits major hospital

Tensions escalate after Israel launches largest bombardment on Iran in decades early on Friday

Events

18 h. ago Starmer warns Trump not to 'ramp up'  Middle East turmoil by joining Israel's attacks on Iran

The PM repeated his call for de-escalation in the region, saying concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme were best dealt 'by way of negotiations than by way of conflict'.

Events

19 h. ago UK interest rates kept on hold with Bank alert to ‘highly unpredictable’ world

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep rates unchanged at 4.25%.

Events

20 h. ago UK's central bank set to keep interest rates on hold amid Middle East uncertainties

The Bank of England is set to keep interest rates on hold as fears grow that the conflict between Israel and Iran will escalate to involve the United States and send oil prices soaring and push U.K. inflation further above target

Politics

21 h. ago ‘My son went to get flour. He came back in a coffin’: As the world focuses on Iran Palestinians are being shot dead seeking aid

While the world has its attention fixed on a regional war, desperate Palestinians are being killed by the dozen as they seek food at controversial American-run aid sites in Gaza, write Bel Trew and Richard Hall

Events

26 h. ago Europe must stand without the US – but the latest war in the Middle East shows it has no idea how | Nathalie Tocci

If Europe was not so in hock to Washington, it would sanction Israel over Gaza and condemn its unilateral attack on IranThe rupture in the transatlantic relationship has left European leaders struggling to know how to think, let alone act, with any autonomy. Europe most urgently needs a mind of its own on the Middle East.Tragically, EU governments were just beginning to turn the page after a year and a half of complicity with the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza. Donald Trump’s obscene plans for a Gaza “riviera” and “humanitarian” initiatives that breach humanitarian principles were creating distance with the US, and European governments were starting to craft their own course.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Events

34 h. ago Israeli attacks kill dozens in Gaza in 24 hours as world focus shifts to Iran

‘Starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable’ says World Food Programme

Events

36 h. ago ‘I may do it, I may not’: Donald Trump taunts Iran over airstrikes as Starmer holds Cobra meeting

Thousands flee Tehran as Ali Khamenei insists Iran won’t surrender to White House pressure

Politics

36 h. ago Fed keeps rates unchanged after Trump knocks chairman Jerome Powell – live

The Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady and policymakers signal borrowing costs are still likely to fall this yearRussian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Wednesday that direct US military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East, where an air war between Israel and Iran has raged for six days.In separate comments, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, was quoted as saying that the situation between Israel and Iran was now critical. Continue reading...

Politics

36 h. ago Starmer considers whether to support US if Trump joins Israel’s war on Iran

Labour prime minister chaired emergency ‘Cobra’ meeting amid fears over escalating situation in the Middle East

Politics

37 h. ago Why two of the world’s most powerful spy agencies disagree on Iran’s nuclear capabilities

Donald Trump has publicly disputed analysis by his own intelligence officials that suggests an Iranian nuclear weapon may be years away

Events

37 h. ago Will the new Middle East crisis rock the world economy? The markets say no – but I fear they’re wrong | Larry Elliott

The oil shocks of the 1970s-90s had brutal economic impacts. As Israel attacks Iran, a moderate rise in oil prices rests on questionable assumptionsFinancial markets picked up the clear message when Donald Trump cut short his stay at the G7 summit in the Canadian Rockies this week. Despite calls from fellow western leaders to de-escalate the crisis, the president’s early return to the White House was taken as a sign that the US is considering joining Israel in its military action against Iran. Trump says he wants Iran’s unconditional surrender.This is where modern summitry came in half a century ago. In 1975, the first meeting of what eventually became the G7 was convened at Rambouillet in France in an attempt to work out a joint response to the oil shock that accompanied the Yom Kippur war between Israel and its neighbours.Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by em...

Economics

38 h. ago Keir Starmer holds Cobra meeting on Middle East fighting as UK evacuates families of Israel embassy staff

The Prime Minister gathered ministers and outside experts including military leaders after returning from the G7 summit in Canada, where he met Donald Trump.

Politics

39 h. ago Justice Sotomayor dissents US supreme court decision that ‘authorizes untold harm to transgender children’ – live

Justice Sonia Sotomayor says decision ‘does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause’ and ‘invites legislatures to engage in discrimination’US supreme court upholds ban on youth gender-affirming careRussian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Wednesday that direct US military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East, where an air war between Israel and Iran has raged for six days.In separate comments, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, was quoted as saying that the situation between Israel and Iran was now critical. Continue reading...

Society

40 h. ago Bunker buster bombs: The American weapon which could spell the end of Iran’s nuclear sites

Experts believe only Washington has the weapons capable of halting Iran’s nuclear programme

Events

40 h. ago Britain withdraws families of embassy staff in Tel Aviv as Starmer chairs Cobra meeting on Israel

Starmer to chair emergency Cobr on Middle East after urging British nationals in Israel to register their presence

Politics