matt_benoit/iStock via Getty Images
Prices for U.S. ethanol blending credits plunged Monday to their lowest levels in more than four months, Reuters reported, after the Environmental Protection Agency extended a September 1 compliance deadline for refiners and ruled on long-pending small refinery exemption requests by
ORE Oduba has been served a fresh blow as he was forced to slash the ticket prices for his new show with Joanne Clifton.
Broadcaster Ore – who has been open about his financial troubles over recent months – met pro dancer Joanne back in 2016 after they were paired together on series 14 of Strictly Come Dancing.
They have remained good pals over the years and recently decided to go on tour.
The Joanne and Ore – Champions Reignited tour will see the pair sing, dance and tell stories.
But, it seems fans aren’t too keen as they’ve been left with no choice but to flog remaining tickets for 75% less than the original price.
Ore, 40, and Joanne’s tour was spotted on discount website Show Film First, which is used to sell-off tickets at a cheaper price.
Event organisers and theatre producers strive to have all seats to be filled for shows, so when venues aren’t selling-out they often allocate unsold tickets to seat-filling agencies like Show Film First.
Tickets to their show have been slashed from £59 to just £15.
Before discounts, the lowest-priced tickets at their original price were £25 for students with a valid ID.
The advert on the site flogging tickets to Ore and Joanne’s upcoming show on Sunday has, at the time of writing been taken down.
They are set to take to the stage in Newcastle at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House.
On the venue’s website, fans can still get 2-for-1 tickets to the performance, which is just hours away.
This isn’t the first blow Strictly star Ore has suffered over the past few years as he announced he and Portia, 36, had ended their nine year marriage in October 2024.
Following their sad split Ore and Portia the put their family home on the market, which left their kids devastated.
The pair share a son, Roman, eight and four-year-old daughter Genie together.
Portia said on social media: “I told the children that we are selling the house.
“It’s hard, especially for Roman, to have these conversations. He’s really upset.”
Last November, Ore opened up on his porn addiction battle while speaking on the We Need to Talk podcast with Paul C Brunson.
He candidly said: “I was nine when I was introduced to pornography. That’s when my addiction started.”
Ore added: “While I wouldn’t say the addiction set in immediately, the intrigue started immediately and it didn’t take long for that intrigue to start running my mind over.
“It was the thing that was destroying my life from the inside out.
“But it was a thing I was running to from an early age as a response to the trauma.”
“Shame kept me silent for 30 years. It took me 30 years, two deaths, and a divorce to finally go: here’s what’s happening,” said Ore.
“The reason I felt like I needed to speak out on this, is because I wanted to guide my own children when it comes to it, when it comes to them seeing stuff that is going to be there.
“They’re going to come across it.”
Ore also admitted that he’d been struggling financially and his son was forced to leave his private school mid-term as a result.
The London-based TV and radio anchor shot to fame after fronting coverage for BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live, and major events like the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Rio Olympics.
Aug. 18 (UPI) — Stocks fell on all three major U.S. indices Tuesday as investors were spooked by elevated bond yields and the prospect of higher oil prices as the war between the United States and Iran drags on without apparent resolution.
Tech stocks led the downturn as the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 1.3%, followed by losses on the S&P 500 (0.6%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.2%).
Most analysts put the blame for the markets’ poor showing on news that 30-year Treasury yield surpassed 5.3% for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2007, reflecting sagging demand from global buyers willing to underwrite sovereign U.S. debt.
Concerns over rampant government deficit spending and the United States’ burgeoning debt of nearly $40 trillion are pushing treasury yields higher, analysts noted.
The shorter 10-year Treasury, meanwhile, ended above 4.7%, compared to below 4% before the start of the Iran War in February.
Rising “T-bill” yields are considered a danger signal for the broader economy and consumer spending because they can have the knock-on effect of pushing up virtually all borrowing costs, from auto loans to mortgages.
The latter is being reflected in costlier mortgage rates. A 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage on Tuesday stood at 6.75% after ending last week at 6.69%.
Meanwhile, oil prices on Tuesday reached their highest level in more than two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to “bomb” Oman if it interferes with his plans to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The benchmark Brent crude futures traded around $91 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose to $84 per barrel.
A potentially very strong El Niño is emerging as a major risk for global agricultural markets, threatening to disrupt rainfall, raise temperatures and expose some of the world’s most important tropical crops to severe weather stress.
The U.S. Climate Prediction Center now sees a greater than 90% chance of a very strong El Niño during the northern hemisphere autumn and winter of 2026 to 2027. For commodity markets, the concern is not simply that El Niño causes drought. Its effects vary sharply by region, meaning excessive rainfall in one major producing country can occur alongside extreme dryness in another.
That makes the phenomenon particularly important for soft commodities such as cocoa, coffee and sugar, whose production is concentrated in climate sensitive tropical regions.
El Niño occurs when sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific become unusually warm as trade winds weaken. The pattern generally lasts between nine and 12 months and can alter global temperature and rainfall patterns.
Stay ahead of the geopolitical week.
MD Briefing delivers expert analysis across five global fronts — the Indo-Pacific, energy, geoeconomics, European security, and the Middle East — every Monday morning. Free.
For farmers, the problem is timing. Crops can be damaged not only by drought but also by excessive rainfall, heat, fungal disease and disrupted flowering or harvesting cycles.
This year’s potential El Niño also arrives at an unusually difficult moment for agricultural producers. Farmers are already dealing with higher fertiliser and diesel costs linked to the U.S. Israeli war on Iran. Another major weather shock could therefore amplify existing production pressures.
Historically, strong El Niño episodes have been associated with substantial increases in soft commodity prices. But the effects differ considerably between crops.
Cocoa appears particularly vulnerable because production is heavily concentrated in a relatively small number of countries.
Ivory Coast and Ghana together account for roughly half of global cocoa production, while Ecuador is the third largest producer. All three can experience significant El Niño related weather disruptions.
Every strong El Niño over the past 55 years has reduced cocoa output, according to WisdomTree.
The previous El Niño illustrates why the relationship is more complicated than simply associating the phenomenon with drought. During the initial phase of the 2023 to 2024 event, West Africa experienced unusually heavy rainfall. Excess moisture contributed to fungal disease affecting cocoa trees.
Conditions subsequently shifted toward intense heat and unusually dry Harmattan winds. Trees weakened by disease struggled to flower, further damaging production.
That sequence demonstrates the real danger for cocoa: El Niño can produce multiple weather shocks during the same crop cycle.
The consequences can quickly reach global consumers. Cocoa prices nearly tripled in 2024 after the West African harvest failed, eventually exceeding $12,000 per metric ton.
A very strong El Niño could therefore revive fears of another supply deficit if weather conditions deteriorate across major growing regions.
Coffee presents a more complicated picture because the world’s two major varieties are concentrated in different regions.
Robusta coffee is particularly exposed to El Niño because Vietnam and Indonesia, which together account for about half of global robusta production, typically experience higher temperatures and reduced rainfall under the weather pattern.
The timing is especially important. Dry conditions can hit these countries during crop development, with the consequences becoming visible during harvesting later in the year.
Citi analysts warned that dryness in Vietnam and Indonesia could significantly reduce robusta yields.
Arabica coffee presents a different picture.
Brazil, responsible for nearly half of global arabica production, can initially benefit from warmer conditions because they reduce the risk of damaging winter frosts.
But that advantage could prove temporary. El Niño typically brings hotter and drier conditions to Brazilian coffee growing regions later in the year, when the next crop is developing.
That creates the possibility of a delayed supply shock in 2027.
Sugar demonstrates why El Niño does not automatically translate into a bullish commodity market.
Brazil, the world’s largest sugar exporter, can experience heavier rainfall during the second half of the year. Excessive rain can disrupt harvesting and affect sugar quality.
India and Thailand face the opposite problem. El Niño generally reduces rainfall during the summer monsoon, creating additional pressure on production.
India is already expecting its lowest monsoon rainfall in 11 years, at around 90% of the long-term average. Hedgepoint estimates that even a moderate El Niño could reduce Indian sugar production by around 1 million metric tons.
Yet there is an important counterweight.
El Niño’s wetter conditions in Brazil could ultimately support the country’s following sugar crop. Since Brazil accounts for roughly half of global sugar exports, stronger Brazilian production could offset losses elsewhere.
That means sugar may not experience the same sustained price pressure as cocoa or robusta coffee.
The most important market implication is not simply whether El Niño becomes “very strong.” It is where its effects materialise and when.
Agricultural markets operate on highly specific growing cycles. Rain arriving at the wrong stage can be just as damaging as drought. Excessive rainfall can create disease, while heat can interfere with flowering and crop development.
Climate change further complicates the picture.
The relationship between El Niño and agricultural weather is becoming harder to interpret because rising global temperatures can intensify the consequences of existing climate patterns. A weather event that might previously have produced manageable stress can now occur against a much hotter baseline.
This means commodity traders increasingly have to price not just the probability of El Niño, but the interaction between El Niño, climate change and already strained agricultural supply chains.
The clearest risk is concentrated in cocoa and robusta coffee, where production is particularly exposed to adverse conditions in major growing countries.
Cocoa has perhaps the greatest vulnerability because West Africa dominates global supply and has already experienced serious weather related production problems. Another major disruption could quickly tighten inventories and push prices higher.
Robusta coffee faces a similar risk if drought develops across Vietnam and Indonesia.
Sugar is more balanced. Production losses in India and Thailand could be partly or potentially substantially offset by improved Brazilian conditions for the following crop.
The broader lesson is that El Niño is not a uniform commodity shock. It redistributes weather risks across producing regions, creating winners and losers within the same market.
The effects will ultimately extend beyond commodity exchanges.
Higher cocoa prices can increase chocolate production costs. Coffee shortages can raise prices for roasters and consumers, while sugar disruptions can affect everything from beverages to processed foods.
And because agricultural markets are interconnected, a weather shock in one producing region can encourage buyers to compete more aggressively for supplies elsewhere.
The potential super El Niño therefore arrives at a particularly sensitive moment for global food markets.
If forecasts prove correct, the next several months could test whether commodity markets have adequately priced the risks of increasingly volatile weather.
The real threat is not El Niño alone. It is El Niño hitting an agricultural system already under pressure from rising costs, concentrated production and a changing climate.
With information from Reuters.
Gombe, Nigeria – On a weekday morning in Pantami District, Gombe, the streets fill with the familiar rush of motorcycles carrying students, workers and traders across the city. But increasingly, some pass almost silently – a subtle sign of a transport shift driven not by climate policy, but by Nigeria’s soaring fuel prices.
One pedestrian did not realise a motorcycle was behind him until the rider sounded its horn. Unlike the petrol-powered bikes that dominate Nigerian roads, the electric motorcycle moved almost noiselessly and produced no exhaust fumes.
Electric motorcycles are gradually appearing across Gombe as riders seek relief from rising fuel costs following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of Nigeria’s fuel subsidy in May 2023, forcing many to rethink how they travel and earn a living.
The bikes, which typically cost about 1 million naira (about $735), remain out of reach for many households. But those who have made the switch say the savings on fuel and maintenance are significant.
Tinubu announced the end of Nigeria’s longstanding petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, triggering a sharp increase in fuel prices across the country.
In Gombe, petrol now sells for about 1,365 naira ($1) per litre (0.26 gallons), compared with roughly 200 naira (15 cents) before the subsidy was removed. The increase has driven up transport costs and squeezed household budgets across Nigeria.
The economic pressure has coincided with growing concern about the environmental impact of the country’s ageing fleet of petrol-powered motorcycles and vehicles. According to the World Bank, road transport is a major contributor to air pollution in Nigerian cities, with vehicle emissions adding significantly to levels of harmful particulate matter.
For Ayuba Abubakar, a farmer and resident of Gombe, the switch to an electric motorcycle was prompted by a friend’s visit earlier this year.
After buying the bike, he rode from Gombe to Kumo and back and was surprised by how little battery power the journey consumed.
![Electric motorcycle entrepreneurs in Gombe are part of a growing push towards cleaner transport solutions amid Nigeria’s fuel-price crisis. [Muhammad Auwal Ibrahim/Al Jazeera]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/some-entrepreneurs-with-the-e-bikes-in-Gombe-1786772366.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
“I usually spend the day moving around Gombe without charging,” Ayuba told Al Jazeera. “When I travel to remote areas, I charge it.”
Ayuba said he has been using the bike for about three months and has so far avoided the mechanical problems that often come with petrol-powered motorcycles.
“My charger once burned out because I didn’t use a stabiliser,” he said. “Apart from that, I’ve had no major maintenance costs.”
He estimates that the bike has saved him about 5,000 naira ($3.7) a week in fuel expenses.
“Even with those savings, the price needs to come down for most Nigerians to afford it,” he added.
Ahmed Aminu, another rider in Gombe, told Al Jazeera that he no longer spends money on engine oil, while Yakubu Sule, who also owns an electric motorcycle, told Al Jazeera that he chose it largely because of its quiet operation.
Despite the enthusiasm of early adopters, unreliable electricity remains one of the biggest obstacles to wider use of electric motorcycles.
Nigeria’s electricity supply is notoriously inconsistent, and many households receive only a few hours of power each day. The challenge has become more pronounced under Nigeria’s service-based tariff system, which classifies customers into bands according to the amount of electricity they receive.
![Hussaini Isa repairs electric motorcycles in Gombe, where demand for e-bikes is gradually growing amid rising petrol prices. [Muhammad Auwal Ibrahim/Al Jazeera]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hussaini-Isa-an-e-bike-electrician-in-Gombe-1786772369.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
For Muhammad Abubakar, chief executive officer of Sustenaa, a clean-energy company, the problem is fundamental.
“If we end up charging these bikes with generators, then what’s the point?” Abubakar told Al Jazeera. “We will just be moving the emissions from the exhaust pipe to the generator pipe, and we are back to square one.”
He argues that solar-powered battery-swap stations are a more realistic solution than relying on riders to charge their motorcycles at home.
Abubakar also warned that Nigeria must plan for battery recycling as electric mobility expands. He called on the government to reduce import duties on electric-bike components, support battery-swap operators, establish recycling standards and integrate electric mobility into existing solar mini-grid projects.
For now, electric motorcycles remain a niche option in Gombe. But as fuel prices remain high and battery-swap infrastructure slowly expands, the quiet motorcycles appearing on the city’s streets may offer a glimpse of how economic pressure is beginning to reshape transport across Nigeria.
“When you look at how many bikes are pumping out smoke daily across Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt, air pollution levels are alarming,” he said. “Even if we start with a fraction of the commercial bike fleets, the improvement in air quality could become visible relatively quickly.”
European shares were little changed on Friday but remained on track for a weekly decline as investors weighed stalled U.S. Iran peace efforts, rising oil prices and upcoming euro zone economic data.
The STOXX 600 edged up 0.05% to 659.65 by 0710 GMT, staying close to record highs despite losses earlier in the week.
European equities have continued to receive support from a strong earnings season. Second quarter profit expectations for Europe’s blue chip companies have increased for an eighth consecutive week, with aggregate STOXX 600 earnings now expected to rise 23.4%, driven largely by strong energy and materials profits.
Renewed geopolitical tensions have nevertheless weakened investor appetite for risk.
Stay ahead of the geopolitical week.
MD Briefing delivers expert analysis across five global fronts — the Indo-Pacific, energy, geoeconomics, European security, and the Middle East — every Monday morning. Free.
Oil futures rose 1% to $87.93 a barrel after the United States threatened an indefinite naval blockade of Iran, raising concerns over potential disruptions to global crude supplies.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran remained deadlocked, with both sides adopting tougher positions in recent days.
Higher oil prices could add to inflationary pressure and complicate the outlook for central banks if the conflict continues to disrupt energy markets.
Markets also took some reassurance from softer U.S. consumer and producer price data released this week, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve may avoid further monetary tightening.
Attention now turns to euro zone employment and GDP data for further clues about the health of the regional economy.
European technology stocks were among the strongest performers, with the sector rising 1.4%.
Basic resources stocks were the biggest decliners, falling 1.6% as investors assessed the impact of geopolitical uncertainty and commodity price movements.
Corporate news remained limited as Europe’s earnings season approached its end.
With information from Reuters.
AND just like that, the solar eclipse is over… until next year where you can see another in several European destinations.
The solar eclipse will return on August 2 next year, with some European destinations getting a total eclipse, including Spain again.
Alongside Spain, Gibraltar, Tunisia, Morocco and eight other countries will also experience a total solar eclipse.
Meanwhile, the UK will once again see a partial eclipse.
Unlike yesterday’s celestial event, this solar eclipse will take place in the morning in most destinations.
But the hype caused by yesterday’s event is already creating hype for next year’s.
Read more on travel inspo
Gibraltar, for example, you can fly from the UK for between £170 and £190 return, on average.
Looking at flights for next year around the solar eclipse, prices are already rocketing.
If you were to head out on July 29 and return on August 3, direct flights from Manchester will set you back at least £453 return and £739 return from London.
Alter the dates slightly and it is still expensive – flying out on July 30 and returning on August 4 will set you back at least £419 direct from London.
Even if you flew out the day before and then headed home straight after the eclipse, you’ll be set back around £400 for direct flights.
Adele Cooke, Senior Consumer Reporter and Consumer Champion at The Sun, who is from Gibraltar, said: “The next eclipse may still be a year away but Gibraltar is already buzzing with excitement.
“The total eclipse will be visible over Gibraltar and the uninterrupted views over the Strait make it a great place to watch the event.
“The eclipse will be visible for a full four minutes, one of the longest durations of anywhere in the world.
“Friends and family have already booked their flights home to be there on August 2 and prices are already climbing.
“But there’s no need to worry about missing out.
“There are dozens of flights from the UK to Malaga every day, and the Spanish airport is just an hour and a half’s drive from Gibraltar.
“Set up price alerts now so you’ll be notified when prices drop.
Meanwhile, website GibStay.com can help you find affordable accommodation.
“If accommodation in Gibraltar is out of your price range then consider staying in one of the nearby towns and driving down for the event.
“Estepona, Soto Grande and Tarifa are all around an hour’s drive away.
“You could book a villa and make a week of it.
“In August temperatures in southern Spain average between 21 and 28 degrees, while the region gets less than 8mm of rainfall for the entire month.”
For Spain, major cities and locations that will be under the path of totality include Cadiz, Malaga and the coast of Almeria and Granada in southern Spain.
If heading to Cadiz, you’ll need to head to Jerez Airport, which is about a 40-minute drive from the city centre.
Direct return flights for the days around the solar eclipse to Jerez Airport from London are already around £495.
This is still more than the average £170 to £350 return trip to the city usually costs in August.
Malaga seems to be one of the only destinations that hasn’t risen… yet.
Average direct return flights to Malaga from the UK in August usually cost £170 to £270.
There are currently direct flights still available heading out at the end of July and returning on August 3 for £187.
There are currently lots of hotels available for affordable prices too.
You don’t have to go to Spain though, you could fly to Morocco instead for £230 return.
Here’s the full list of countries you could head to where there will be a full solar eclipse on August 2:
Most of these destinations will experience a total eclipse mid morning on August 2.
Sacramento — The two candidates for California governor came to Sacramento on Tuesday offering policy agendas that were both sweeping and vague on details, with both warning of the dangers posed by their rival’s political party.
Democrat Xavier Becerra vowed to lower healthcare costs for Californians and teased two new policies on energy and artificial intelligence. Republican Steve Hilton pledged to slash gas prices and utility bills to help remedy his dystopian view of California under Democratic rule.
The two candidates will face off in the Nov. 3 election to succeed outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, and took time to deliver their campaign messages at an afternoon political forum in the state capital.
Hilton pointed to the size of the state budget, the homelessness crisis, high taxes, the cost of living, the unemployment rate and the business climate to argue that 15 years of Democratic control has proved disastrous in California.
“It’s just a complete failure on every front, and it seems to have been immune to any kind of challenge because it’s very powerful. The machine is very powerful, funded by government unions, and you’ve got this alliance of the government unions and nonprofits, and the Chamber of Commerce, and all of this,” he told hundreds of people at a convention center in Sacramento.
Becerra defended California’s Democratic leadership, which controls the state Legislature, the governor’s office and every other statewide political office, as a staunch bulwark against the ruthless agenda of the Trump administration and Republican-led Congress.
“We’re a state. We’re a family. You don’t blame just one parent when things go awry with one of the children,” he said in reference to more than a decade of Democratic governance in California. “We’re all in this together. We all have to work together. I could say that one of the members of the American family in Washington, D.C., has created more chaos than any Democrat in the state of California.”
After a chaotic and competitive June primary, Tuesday marked one of the few times the two men have addressed the same audience. They appeared at a forum hosted by the news organization Politico and sponsored by Airbnb, AT&T, energy company California Resources Corp., Google and the Western States Petroleum Assn.
In a state with a pronounced Democratic tilt, Becerra, a former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, is the front-runner in the race. Nearly 45% of the state’s voters are registered Democrats, while 25% are Republicans, according to a May report by the secretary of state’s office. Becerra has raised millions of dollars more than Hilton and benefited from well-funded independent groups that spent millions supporting his campaign.
Becerra repeatedly said he would not promise anything he could not deliver, saying that voters “want to see actual outcomes.”
“That’s also why I think you can’t do pie in the sky, inflated promises, because people want to see you deliver, and you can talk a great game, but unless you can deliver, people are going to crucify you,” he said.
He said he could not promise to build 3 million new housing units, as Newsom did eight years ago as a candidate for governor.
“That’s an inflated promise. But I will tell you, we will build, and I will tell you, there will be more Californians who own a home,” Becerra said.
Later, he told reporters he was not specifically referring to the figure Newsom had promised. “I could have said 2 million. I could have said 5 million. What I was saying is, it’s gonna be something that’s realistic,” he said.
Becerra was willing to make some big promises on healthcare.
“Am I going to promise you that I can drop the price of prescription drugs? Yes, because I did it before, and I know I can do it again. Am I telling you that I can keep Californians insured for healthcare, even though the guy in the White House stripped a trillion dollars out of the healthcare system? Yes, because I know how much money is in the healthcare system,” he said.
Pressed for specifics on how he would prevent people from losing their health insurance, Becerra hinted that the solution could be within the healthcare industry itself.
“There’s money in them there hills,” he said. “Healthcare is more expensive in California than anywhere else in the country, and healthcare is more expensive in the U.S. than it is anywhere else in the world. There is money that’s being spent that does nothing to dispense healthcare to you, and we’ve got to stop that game.”
Hilton acknowledged the long odds he faces in the November general election.
“I know I’m probably the only person in this room that actually thinks I can win this election,” he said.
Since the June primary, Hilton has been a constant presence on the campaign trail, crisscrossing the state, holding town halls and news conferences, making speeches and giving media interviews. Becerra has been far less visibly active.
Hilton argued that California is at a crossroads, pointing to residents and businesses moving out of the state.
“I’m here to say we can turn them around,” he said. “It’s an absolute crisis that we’re in if we don’t change direction.”
Hilton has vowed to cut gas prices to $3 per gallon, reduce utility bills, eliminate income taxes for Californians making under $150,000, increase the supply of starter homes and overhaul the business climate, particularly in the entertainment and agricultural industries. Just how Hilton would deliver on his agenda, given that Democrats control the California Legislature, remains unclear.
While he did not make any formal policy announcements at the summit, Becerra said there is “a lot of room to expand” on regulations and protections on AI, and he signaled support for a government-purchased stake in AI companies. “We can make it so they can prosper, but we prosper with them,” he said.
Hilton, who has released several AI-generated campaign ads, criticized Sam Altman of OpenAI and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei for doing little to earn the public’s trust on the fast-emerging technology. He also said there is space to both regulate and give AI more freedom.
“I think we’re in danger of both over- and under-regulating at the same time. I think we’re under-regulating some of the harms, for example, in relation to children and in relation to the creative community and their output, but we’re in danger of over-regulating some of the potential benefits,” including in the medical field, he said.
When asked whether the state’s voters are “stupid” for continuing to vote for Democrats, Hilton replied that they are not, but rather had not been offered a clear, positive alternative.
“There is a sense of inevitability about it, and I think that’s infected perhaps a lot of the political discourse in California,” he said. The notion that “it’s California. Democrats are always going to be in charge. What can you do?”
He said he believes he has a shot in the November election because he has a positive message, similar to that which helped propel the right-leaning Tories to a 14-year reign in the United Kingdom when he was a senior advisor to then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
Hilton labeled Becerra “unqualified” and didn’t discuss his endorsement by President Trump, which propelled his advancement to the general election.
“We’ve got everything going for us in California. We’ve got incredible assets and resources. We’ve got natural beauty, the best weather, great universities, amazing people, the incredible innovation ecosystem, the kind of startup hustle rebel spirit,” he said. “We just need, I think, a proactive, pro-business governor [who] recognizes that we’ve just ended up …, often with good intentions, frankly, in a situation where we’ve just got this massive, bloated bureaucratic government that’s stifling the spirit of California.”
As Israel tightens its blockade on the entry of goods into Gaza, residents are left with no option but to maintain what they have. As a result, both lighters and fans have become the backbone of energy in the strip.
Published On 11 Aug 202611 Aug 2026
Share
Aug. 11 (UPI) — The price of oil reached $90 per barrel Tuesday as Iran and President Donald Trump traded jabs about war reparations, decreasing hopes for a new peace deal.
The price dipped back down to $87 as of Tuesday morning.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose 19 cents to $82.32 per barrel around 8 a.m. EDT. Brent crude was up to $87.74.
Prices had dipped when Pakistan’s Defense Minister said the two warring countries were “close to some sort of arrangement.”
But on Monday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social demanding that Iran pay reparations, dimming hopes for peace. That caused a 3% spike.
The contradictory statements between Washington and Tehran also added to the fears Monday, as Trump said the United States has “100%” control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the two sides were engaging, but not in person.
“The oil market remains very headline-driven, which leaves prices whipsawing. The latest bout of optimism is quickly fading,” ING strategists wrote in a Tuesday note, CNBC reported. “Current rhetoric suggests any potential deal is still some way off, meaning risks remain skewed to the upside for oil prices.”
Analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote in a research note that fears of higher inflation are coming from worries of a long standoff, The New York Times reported.
“That in turn led to mounting speculation about central bank rate hikes, with investors pricing in a more hawkish path for the months ahead,” the bank wrote.
The average gasoline price stayed at $4.11 a gallon Tuesday, a 38% increase since the start of the war with Iran.
Published on
Crude and US Treasury yields rose together as traders judged that the exchange of compensation demands between the US and Iran has pushed any potential deal further out of reach.
The US president said on Monday he had told his negotiators to seek payment from Iran for Americans killed and wounded in attacks he attributes to Tehran going back decades, including the bombing of the USS Cole in the year 2000 and for Iranians killed in protest crackdowns.
In a follow-up post on Truth Social he expanded on the demand, saying Iran should also pay for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza”.
Tehran, whose representatives had sought compensation for five months of US and Israeli bombardment, says the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut until Washington lifts its naval blockade, ends sanctions and releases frozen Iranian assets.
The front month contract on Brent traded at around $89.8 a barrel on Tuesday and West Texas Intermediate at about $84.2, both up roughly 2.5%.
The US bond market read it the same way, with yields rising across the US curve in a modest global sell-off, the two-year over 4.25%, the ten-year above 4.7% and the thirty-year higher than 5.27%. The yields for all durations are trading at the highs of this year.
Since yields move inversely to prices, the rise means investors are selling government debt as they expect that costlier oil will feed into inflation and strengthen the case for higher interest rates.
Money markets now put roughly even odds on a Federal Reserve rate hike in September, with July inflation data due on Wednesday.
The current stalling of US-Iran negotiations is deliberate as US President Donald Trump appears to have been favouring a slower approach as of late.
The US president told Axios in an interview published on Sunday that the US is “low-keying it,” meaning Washington was only semi-negotiating and content to watch Iran’s inflation and empty coffers do the work, a signal he is prepared to let economic pressure mount rather than order a fresh military campaign.
In the Oval Office on Monday, he struck a triumphant note, claiming the US controls “100%” of the Strait of Hormuz, that only the US Navy holds sway in the region, that American forces have swept it clear of Iranian mines and that the blockade of Iranian ports is impenetrable.
However, shipping data tells another story.
Confirmed crossings have run at 6 to 11 vessels a day recently, against the 130 to 140 daily before the war, according to Kpler data, leaving traffic at a fraction of normal levels throughout the five-month conflict.
Published on
Oil prices rose in early trading on Monday as market participants weighed mixed signals from the US and Iran, with concerns that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could take longer to materialise.
Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for October delivery gained 1.04% to $84.42 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures for September advanced 0.83% to $78.83 a barrel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards insisted on Sunday that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US complied with a list of demands.
Tehran insists on retaining control of the waterway – through which a fifth of world oil and LNG pass – after the war and wants to charge tolls for passage, which Washington has pushed back against.
Attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire, and mediators have urged both sides to return to the terms of a subsequent June memorandum that set out a path for peace talks.
Iran on Saturday released a list of conditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the war on all fronts, the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, the Tasnim news agency reported.
Those conditions echoed the terms of the June agreement, which included a provision to create a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that their strategy was to maintain their blockade “until the enemy accepts all our conditions… the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway”.
For his part, US President Donald Trump said in an interview: “We are low-keying it.”
“We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he was quoted as saying. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
“It will work out,” he added. “It’s like a chess game.”
Additional sources • AFP
Oil prices fell to a three-week low on Tuesday as senior US officials raised hopes of a deal with Iran to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz waterway.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both announced talks had progressed to allow shipments to potentially resume as soon as this week.
The cost of a barrel of brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, fell by almost 5% to under $80 on the news of supply disruptions potentially being eased.
But the failure of previous negotiations in recent months to de-escalate the conflict between the US and Iran has led to a volatile oil market, with drivers ultimately being hit by higher fuel prices at the pumps.
On Tuesday, along with the drop in Brent crude, US West Texas Intermediate prices were down more than 5%, to $76 a barrel. Both contracts dropped to their lowest levels since 13 July.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been progress made in discussions on getting more ships through the Strait with Iran and Oman.
“There’s been progress made in those talks, but not finality yet. We’re hoping that will happen very shortly,” he told reporters at the State Department.
Bessent said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be agreed as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
There was a “chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait and move towards a more normalized position in this conflict,” he told CNBC.
“It would be freedom of movement,” he added, when asked whether Iran would be allowed to charge for ships passing through.
While senior figures in the US government have announced talks have been progressing, no details of what a potential deal may look like have been released.
The Strait of Hormuz has been a central point in negotiations between the US and Iran. Before the conflict began in late February, the waterway handled about one-fifth of global daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
The disruption has sent prices at the pumps up across the world. In the UK petrol prices are now at levels seen at the start of the conflict, with the average cost of a litre of petrol hitting £1.60, according to the RAC motoring group.
In the US, gasoline prices are on average above $4 a gallon, according to the AAA. Diesel is almost $5.40 a gallon.
Qatar, which is one of the key mediators between Washington and Tehran, said it was continuing efforts with other mediators to try to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the war, but admitted no direct talks were currently planned.
On Monday, President Donald Trump warned Iran faced its “last chance” to agree a deal to allow commercial shipping to resume in the Strait.
He said he had called off “massive” strikes on the country for talks to resume.
But Iran has said it was not negotiating with the US – and had no plans to do so – and is instead talking to Oman.
US stock markets were trading higher on Tuesday following news of the negotiations lowering oil prices and also in response to corporate results related to Artificial Intelligence.
Investors have experienced jitters on Wall Street as results from Big Tech firms indicate spending on the technology is set to continue to soar.
British oil giant BP posted second quarter profit on Tuesday of $5.7 billion, more than double the $2.35 billion it made in the April to June period in 2025, amid sharply higher oil and gas prices caused by the U.S.-Iran conflict. File photo by Neil Hall/EPA
Aug. 4 (UPI) — British oil giant BP posted second-quarter profit on Tuesday of $5.7 billion, more than double the $2.35 billion it made in the April to June period in 2025, amid sharply higher oil and gas prices caused by the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Profit was $2.5 billion more than what the company made in the first quarter, the first two months of which were before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and easily beat the $5 billion expected by analysts.
BP’s results, the latest of the oil giants to report bumper profits in recent days following on from Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump accused energy firms of exploiting the current shortage of supply.
“Based on a shortage, they’re making too much money,” he said Monday after Exxon Mobil and Chevron last week reported a combined $26.5 billion profit for the second quarter.
Trump demanded the companies return some of their windfall to the public by cutting their retail prices, saying profits that had jumped as much as 12-fold were not acceptable and that he was not happy about it.
On Friday, Shell, the other British supermajor, also posted results showing it more than doubled its earnings, reporting a $9.84 billion profit for the April to June period, up from $4.26 billion in the same period last year.
Environmental groups criticized the profit made by BP as unseemly.
“Clearly not everyone is feeling the pain of the energy crisis. While BP banks another round of enormous profits, millions of households are paying the price through sky-high energy bills and a climate crisis accelerating rapidly out of control with increasingly severe heatwaves, wildfires and droughts,” said Friends of the Earth campaigns head Rosie Downes.
BP CEO Meg O’Neill told CNBC on Tuesday that while she understood the pressure ordinary consumers felt when they were confronted by the prices at the pump, the company had little control over the cost.
“The reality is we produce a global commodity and the prices for the product we sell hangs off that global commodity price, said O’Neill, who stressed that the sterling financial results were due to strong performances across all its businesses,” she said.
She added that the company had tweaked the firm’s refining runs to ensure the products consumers needed most at any given point in time were available in sufficient quantities but insisted BP was “there was more to do.”
“We are not making the most of our potential. Our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders. We have not delivered consistently; we have written off too much value; and our costs and liabilities are not resilient enough in a low price environment,” said O’Neill.
BP’s results came four days after it put its North Sea oil business on the market amid uncertainty over whether the British government will forge ahead with phasing out North Sea oil and gas, in line with its Net Zero by 2050 target, or issue some new drilling licences to meet U.K. demand in the interim.
O’Neill said Tuesday that in a conversation with Prime Minister Andy Burnham he had assured her that he would take a “pragmatic” approach to the issue.
“The U.K. is still using a huge amount of oil and natural gas every single day, and we ought to be using our domestic resources first instead of buying those resources from a third party,” O’Neill added.
Analysts estimate BP’s 24 fields, about half of which are still producing, should fetch around $2.6 billion.
There are estimated to be at least 12 billion barrels of oil left under the North Sea, although developed reserves awaiting to be pumped are much lower.
United States President Donald Trump has lambasted the nation’s biggest oil and gas giants as Houston, Texas-based Chevron reported record earnings while consumers struggle with soaring petrol prices.
“I don’t like it,” Trump told reporters on Monday in reference to the blockbuster second-quarter earnings, as his war on Iran has kept oil prices high for months.
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much. Too much money.”
Trump’s comments came on the heels of an interview Chevron CEO Mike Wirth gave on the Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president berated Wirth for not crediting his administration’s efforts to help the oil industry.
“The only thing he [Wirth] conveniently forgot to mention is that, without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD!”
Chevron reported its highest quarterly profits in six years on Friday. Adjusted earnings per share came to $6.06, or $12bn, as tensions between the US and Iran strained global oil supply chains in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, where roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supply travelled through before the war, sending prices soaring.
Chevron rewarded its employees. Wirth praised them for their work and said in an email that most workers would receive a bonus equivalent to half their monthly base pay, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an internal email.
Al Jazeera has not been able to independently confirm Reuters’ reporting.
Chevron’s strong earnings come as the company is less reliant on Middle Eastern production operations than its competitors, allowing it to reap the benefits of higher global oil prices during the quarter. Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, was 23 percent higher than in the first three months of the year.
“Being less dependent on the Strait of Hormuz is definitely helping them. It’s also the refining they’re able to do here. The fact that Chevron has less than 5 percent exposure there gives it some protection,” Bill Drolet, executive director, mergers & acquisitions at The Post Oak Group investment bank, told Al Jazeera.
“More than 70 percent of Chevron’s production is concentrated in America, and that’s where it’s making its biggest margins right now.”
Chevron also benefitted from the president’s move to open up oil production in Venezuela after US special forces abducted the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, in January. Chevron had stayed on in the South American nation even after former President Hugo Chavez nationalised oil production.
Chevron did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
Competitors also performed well. ExxonMobil on Friday posted its best quarterly profits in four years, but they fell short of analysts’ expectations. Earnings raked in $9.2bn.
Exxon did not respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday, Valero Energy reported its highest ever second-quarter profit, with net income coming in at $3.7bn as US refiners reap the benefits of tensions choking oil production across the Middle East.
But those benefits have not reached consumers, who are feeling the strain at the petrol pump. Petrol prices are above $4 a gallon (3.78 litres) across the US. The average price for a gallon of petrol is $4.09, down from $4.11 this time last week, but up from $3.82 a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks daily petrol prices.
By comparison, when the US and Israel first struck Iran in late February, the average price was $2.98.
An analysis from Bank of America published in April showed consumers spending as much as 4.2 percent of their income on petrol in March, up from 3.9 percent in 2019. Lower-income earners are hit much harder, with more than 10 percent of households spending more than 10 percent of their monthly income on petrol.
This comes as pressure on the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve continues. The reserves hit their lowest level since 1983 this week, according to the Department of Energy. They fell by 2.8 million barrels over the week to 304.8 million barrels.
The condemnation of the oil industry has come from across the political spectrum.
“A decent industry would say, ‘this was money we didn’t earn, it’s a windfall we get from our cartel pricing scheme.’ Not these corrupt, greedy and grasping rogues,” Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
But lowering prices might not be as easy. Beyond pressure from consumers, companies across the corporate United States are beholden to a concept called shareholder supremacy. This means that while lowering prices might be in the best interest of pinched consumers, it may not be possible given the legal framework and companies’ fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
“They’ve [oil companies] got shareholders they’re responsible for. They could reduce share buybacks or dividend payouts, but right now, I don’t see oil companies doing much,” Post Oak Group’s Drolet said.
He said if he were advising a member of Congress or the president, providing relief to consumers might be easiest by suspending the so-called gas tax, which varies by state. In Texas, for example, the gas tax accounts for 20 cents per gallon, while in California, it is 63 cents per gallon.
“From a political standpoint, the best thing our government can do is suspend gas taxes, especially in California. If they put a temporary hold on taxes, that would help everybody get through this challenging time.”
Al Jazeera asked the White House if that policy is on the table, but the press office did not respond.
Heading into the US midterm elections, cost of living remains among the highest concerns for consumers. In a Washington Post/Ipsos poll last month, 54 percent of respondents said that high prices and the economy were a chief concern heading into November.
“They see the price of fuel and net profit for Exxon and Chevron and feel that they are abusing US consumers, especially as US consumers have access to the correct fuel, whereas other areas around the world have shortages [such as Germany, Philippines],” Babak Hafezi, professor of international business at American University, told Al Jazeera.
“The reality is that as the war [On Iran] progresses, the impacts of the lack of supply will create full price and supply shocks.”
Amid Trump’s comments, Chevron’s stock is on the downturn in midday trading, tumbling more than 2 percent from the market open. However, it is up more than 1.1 percent over the last five days.
ExxonMobil is down 0.5 percent for the day and 0.1 percent over the last five days.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil for October delivery lost 5.16% to $83.39 a barrel, while US crude, or WTI, futures for September delivery declined nearly 6% to $79.66 per barrel.
Crude declined after US President Donald Trump said fresh talks with Iran would begin later in the day, easing concerns over potential supply disruptions. Additional downward pressure came after Saudi Arabia, Russia and five other key members of OPEC+ agreed in an online meeting on Sunday to boost oil production by 188,000 barrels a day from September, against a backdrop of disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.
“The seven participating countries decided to implement a production adjustment of 188 thousand barrels per day,” they said in a joint statement.
The increase, decided by the key countries in the enlarged Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was widely expected by analysts.
“OPEC+ has finished unwinding its voluntary cuts. The next challenge is managing the surplus that could emerge as export flows normalise,” Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy, said.
He warned, however, that the decision “changes little in the near term because (the Strait of) Hormuz remains constrained. The real market impact will come when normal export flows resume.”
The Gulf countries have struggled to increase exports due to the near-paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz orchestrated by Iran during the war in the Middle East – despite a brief upswing in shipping traffic after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed in June.
Many OPEC+ members cannot produce as much oil as their official targets allow due to a “decline in production capacity”, so increasing targets has become less meaningful, Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS, said.
The September increase, agreed by OPEC+ countries Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, completes the unwinding of the second of the three production-cut packages introduced by organisation.
“Having completed the restoration campaign, OPEC+ has little incentive to rush into further supply changes. Our base case is a fourth-quarter pause while the group prepares for the 2027 quota negotiations,” Rystad Energy’s Leon said.
“For now, geopolitics is masking the scale of the supply increase. That will become much clearer once export flows normalise,” he added.
It remains unclear when the group will actually be able to increase its oil volumes. Some member countries, such as Iraq, have expressed a desire to significantly boost production.
Russia, though, is confronted with repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on its oil infrastructure that have crimped production, currently hovering around nine million barrels per day – compared with a target of 9.8 million barrels per day.
OPEC+ “faces potentially difficult talks over new production quotas” starting next year following the September increase, according to analysts at DNB Carnegie.
Between late 2022 and 2023, OPEC+ became concerned that oil prices were falling, and agreed to cut oil production in three separate rounds, reducing total output by nearly six million barrels per day.
But Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Oman and the United Arab Emirates – before the latter’s exit from the group on May 1 – then changed their strategy by gradually upping production starting in 2025.
“I don’t think cohesion is at risk at this very moment,” Leon said, warning, however, that the UAE’s withdrawal from the group in May has highlighted a weakness in this area.
alexsl/iStock via Getty Images
Emerging-market stocks stumbled in July as renewed geopolitical tensions, volatile AI-related shares and rising interest-rate concerns interrupted what had been a strong rally earlier this year, Bloomberg News reported Sunday.
For investors, the outlook for developing markets is becoming more complicated. While
High fuel prices likely to linger with or without continued Iran war, Exxon and Chevron say
Source link
Taiz, Yemen – Fuad Mohammed has been working as a construction labourer for more than 25 years. The 46-year-old has seen things get progressively worse in Yemen’s construction industry since the war in the country started more than a decade ago, and then further deteriorate after the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, with its devastating economic impact on the wider region.
“We can barely eke out a living for our families,” Fuad told Al Jazeera.
list of 3 itemsend of list
The ongoing regional war has damaged economies across the Middle East, with government-controlled areas of Yemen bearing a heavy burden as commodity prices soar. Among the hardest-hit sectors is fuel: in January, 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of diesel cost 25,000 Yemeni riyals ($17), but today that price has skyrocketed to 45,000 riyals ($30). That massive spike has triggered a domino effect, driving up the costs of all goods and services dependent on fuel and transportation – including construction.
As a result, countless construction projects across those areas – in Yemen’s east and southwest – have ground to a halt.
Fuad explained that, before the US-Israel-Iran war, he was able to find work for around two weeks every month. But this year, he has now gone several months with barely any work.
“The price hikes in building materials have frustrated both homeowners and construction labourers,” Fuad said. “Those who want to build find that their budgets are no longer enough, and we are left with no work.”
Fuad recalled that he briefly found work in May for a woman who had saved money to build a home for her family. However, when a fresh wave of price increases hit the market, she paused construction to wait for prices to drop.
“I also work with construction contractors, but most of them have paused their projects at the request of homeowners,” he added. “When I call them, they tell me they are waiting for regional conditions to improve.”
As an example of the rising costs, the price of a truckload of sand increased from 130,000 Yemeni riyals ($87) to 190,000 riyals ($127), while the average cost of one metre of window glass rose from 90,000 riyals ($60) to 130,000 riyals ($87).
Fuad’s situation at home is desperate. Relying entirely on daily wages but having no work, he can not provide basic essentials for his family. He has considered finding another job, but he lacks professional experience in other fields.
In a desperate attempt to find work, he has lowered his daily wage from 25,000 Yemeni riyals ($17) to 20,000 riyals ($13).
“My situation is getting worse every day,” he said.
An official from the Yemen Petroleum Company in Aden told the Reuters news agency in May that the increase in the price of diesel was caused by the worsening supply crisis and rising global fuel prices, driven by regional tensions and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, alongside increased transportation and marine insurance costs. The official noted that the measure was temporary and would remain in place until the end of the crisis and conditions returned to normal.
Wafeeq Saleh, executive director of the Taiz Center for Yemeni-Gulf Studies, explained that the Yemeni economy was particularly susceptible to external economic shocks.
“Any disruptions in global commodity markets directly affect the local market because [Yemen] imports nearly 90 percent of its needs,” Saleh told Al Jazeera. “Consequently, the local rise in commodity and fuel prices is a natural outcome of surging global prices, shipping tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as increased maritime insurance and freight fees.”
In areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, however, including the capital Sanaa, there has not yet been a sharp increase in fuel prices, and therefore no impact on the construction industry – yet.
Yemen’s war has entrenched two separate economic structures in the country, with the central bank bifurcated between Aden and Sanaa, and two different exchange rates operating for the Yemeni riyal.
The Houthi group is already facing popular anger over a weak economy, as it grows increasingly isolated regionally and internationally. The group has so far avoided an increase in the price of fuel, with 20 litres (5.3 gallons) of diesel costing 9,500 Yemeni riyals, which at the exchange rate set in Sanaa is the equivalent of roughly $18.
“[The Houthis] may have sufficient inventory from previous months, which is why the local market hasn’t been affected,” Saleh said. “However, the impact will appear in the coming period when imports are made at the new price.”
The actions of the pro-Iranian Houthis themselves have contributed to the increase in global oil prices. Having sat out the Iran war for its first few months, the Houthis recently began attacks against Saudi ships passing through the Red Sea, after the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition that backs it refused to allow a plane from Iran to land in Sanaa. The Houthi attacks mean that the transportation of oil from the Gulf is now disrupted in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, and has contributed to oil prices going past $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
Lutf Zuraiqi, 58, had saved some money to build a home, but the dramatic increase in the cost of building materials forced him to pause the project until “things get better”.
“Price increases aren’t new in Yemen, but I believe this current surge is regional. I believe as soon as the regional war ends, building materials will return to their old prices,” Zuraiqi told Al Jazeera.
Zuraiqi has been following news of the Iran war on a daily basis because its end would mean lower material costs for him and the chance to resume building his planned home.
“The government promised that prices will go back down after the [US-Iran] war ends,” he said. “So this time I’m choosing to believe them and hope I will manage to finish my home.”
Mohammed Jameel, on the other hand, hasn’t been following the news – but the building contractor has been tracking prices of building materials instead. The 59-year-old believes that, based on his experience, once the price of the materials goes up, they never come down.
“I have worked in construction for more than four decades now, and throughout this entire period, building material prices have consistently risen,” Jameel said. “We have never witnessed a price drop. So, I advise those who have paused their construction to resume, as today is always better than tomorrow.”
Jameel said that he has been forced to reduce his rates and cut profit margins on major contracts to keep some work.
“My experience tells me it is normal for owners of homes and projects to pause work until they adapt to the new prices,” he added. “But eventually, construction labourers’ wages will rise, and the total cost of building will increase.”
Jameel feels for the plight of construction labourers, but he views this as a temporary phase and believes the suffering will ease once work picks up again. “We are all in the same boat, not just the daily wage labourers,” he said. “But we hope things will get better.”
Qualcomm options traders prices 9% swing ahead of earnings
Source link
Heathrow Airport will be allowed to charge airlines more for its services to recover money spent on the early stages of its third runway project.
The aviation regulator is permitting the airport to claw back up to £320m through higher airport charges to airlines for each passenger, which is likely to end up being added to ticket prices.
A bidder which unsuccessfully put forward a rival design involving a shorter runway, Arora Group’s Heathrow West, will also be allowed to recover £4.1m pounds in costs.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Heathrow said safeguards would be put in place to protect consumers from unjustified costs.
At this stage, the costs being recovered are only for the early planning and design of the runway during 2025 and 2026.
Tim Johnson, the CAA’s director of consumers and markets, told the BBC: “We’ve announced that the first tranche of costs, which is to help with the planning of this, can be recovered from passengers. That’s up to a maximum of £320m.”
Heathrow airport will also be able to collect Heathrow West’s costs up to November last year by adding to its airport charges.
The CAA said allowing these costs to be recouped will result in the maximum airport charge per passenger increasing by around 15 pence in 2028, rising to an estimated 30 pence in the following years.
In November, the government announced it preferred the £33bn scheme put forward by the airport over Arora’s alternative plan.
At the time, the Department for Transport said Heathrow’s own proposal offered the most deliverable option, and the “greatest likelihood” of getting a decision on planning approval within this parliament.
The CAA’s director of consumers and markets, Tim Johnson, said today’s decision “strikes a balance between supporting the delivery of benefits to consumers through timely progress on Heathrow expansion, whilst also protecting them from undue increases in costs”.
The regulator said “safeguards” designed to monitor cost efficiency would include transparency and cost reporting requirements, and assurance by independent experts.
Airlines often complain that Heathrow is the world’s most most expensive hub airport, and have repeatedly voiced concern that the airport’s expansion plans will make it pricier.
The government hopes for a planning decision by 2029.
Plans for a third runway stretch back decades, with the government backing the plans in 2003.
However, the idea has also long faced opposition from climate campaigners, many local residents, and several politicians.
They worry an additional runway will increase air pollution, noise pollution, and breach the government’s legally binding climate commitments.
PRINCESS Andre has admitted she can’t keep up with mum Katie Price’s “extreme” love life and rollercoaster marriage to latest husband Lee Andrews.
The influencer and TV star, 19, spoke candidly on her reality series, The Princess Diaries, after her parent tied the knot with conman Lee in January.
Katie said I Do just 10 days after meeting Lee for the first time.
Princess, who is Katie‘s child with ex Peter Andre, along with big brother Junior, revealed in her ITV show: “Mum’s in Dubai right now to see her husband and to be honest I don’t really know much about it.
“I’ve never met him but mum’s love life is everywhere at the moment.
“Mum’s love life stories are quite extreme and honestly I don’t even follow it myself, but as long as my mum’s happy, we’re happy, and that’s all that matters”.
Back in June, Katie’s new spouse Lee made a bizarre claim he had “adopted” Princess – alongside the former glamour model’s four other kids.
The suggestion prompted Princess’ dad, Mysterious Girl hitmaker Pete, to deny Lee’s words.
At the time, his rep told Metro that Lee’s claims were “categorically untrue” and are “yet another lie” from the self-proclaimed business man.
Since then, former glamour model Katie has been presented with an explosive dossier from The Sun’s Clemmie Moodie covering her spouse’s misdemeanours – including his mental health lies and damning texts.
At the time, The Sun’s files against Lee – including a “gay affair rumour” – had, according to a source, left Katie with no choice but to consult a divorce lawyer.
KATIE Price tied the knot with Lee Andrews in January 2026. Yet who is he?
Clemmie also confirmed in her in-depth article that Katie is refusing to return to Dubai – where Lee lives and is currently locked up in prison.
Meanwhile Katie has vowed to quiz her husband over his offer to sell a sex tape of them – as her sister Sophie branded him a “d***head”.
It comes after The Sun revealed Lee’s sickening plan of hawking an alleged “sex tape” with his wife.
Speaking on the latest episode of her podcast, Katie addressed the video and insisted she has no knowledge of it – but said finds the whole things “ridiculous” and “overwhelming”.
She said: “I commented when he went missing but he’s in prison and I will be questioning him about a lot of things when he’s out. I’m just getting on doing what I’m doing.
“There is so much, there is no smoke without fire.”
Within days of Katie marrying Lee in Dubai, stories started to emerge of the lies the conman has told.
Lee claimed he had connections with some of the richest stars in the world, but it proved to be fake, and that he had used AI to fake meetings and pictures with Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk.
In one of Lee’s only interviews, he told The Sun he planned to buy Chelsea FC as part of a £2billion bid.
Lee has also claimed that he has degrees from some of the UK’s top universities, including Cambridge, but the institution quickly clarified that they had no trace of Lee having ever attended as a student.
Through it all, Katie has stood by her husband and jetted back and forth to Dubai to be with him.
The couple also recently got a dog together in the UAE city, and despite her family’s on-going protests over the relationship – she had been planning to jet back out for another reunion with Lee before Clemmie’s bombshell dossier was published.
