Oil on track for record monthly surge as Iran war disrupts markets 29. March 2026 (13:20) Brent crude jumps 51% since start of March and gold suffers fifth-largest monthly fall in 50 yearsMiddle East crisis – latest updatesThe Brent crude oil price is on track for its biggest monthly gain on record in March after the Iran war caused mayhem in the markets.Brent crude, the international benchmark, has climbed by 51% since the start of March, LSEG data shows, beating the previous monthly record of 46% in September 1990 after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, leading to the first Gulf war. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Erin O’Connor says Instagram removed her pregnancy photo for nudity breach 29. March 2026 (12:48) Model posted picture of herself naked and pregnant, standing ‘in her full power’, to celebrate Mother’s Day It is a black-and-white photograph of a heavily pregnant Erin O’Connor touching her baby bump with an expression of maternal bliss on her face.For the 48-year-old model, who has worked for Dior, Versace, Alexander McQueen and Chanel, it conveys the “abundance of life being right there” under her fingertips when she was pregnant. But to Instagram it was merely a nude photo of a woman’s body. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘A cruel penalty’: disabled people face lower benefit payments if conditions not deemed lifelong 29. March 2026 (12:39) Forthcoming rules mean debilitating conditions may not meet strict ‘severe and lifelong’ criteria, say charitiesHundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said.In April, the health element of universal credit – an extra payment for people assessed as too unwell to work or prepare for work – will be halved to £50 a week and frozen for new claimants unless their condition is found to be terminal or severe and lifelong with no prospect of improvement. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Keir Starmer says UK will ‘have to act’ to curb addictive features of social media 29. March 2026 (12:02) In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’Keir Starmer has backed banning addictive social media features in his strongest intervention yet on curbs that could be placed on tech companies, saying the features “shouldn’t be permitted”.The prime minister said the government was “going to have to act” on the algorithms that hook young people and children to social media, such as scrolling or “streaks” that encourage daily usage of apps. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Exhausted Palestinians struggle to put lives back together as world’s gaze fixes on Iran 29. March 2026 (11:12) Five months after a ceasefire was announced in Gaza, airstrikes are still killing civilians, and the humanitarian situation remains direThere is little left that connects Palestinians in Gaza with their prewar existence. The contours of life have become darker and far more brutal, as if the population has been stripped of its past.“Drones never stop buzzing overhead, gunfire and shelling continue almost daily and naval boats fire towards fishermen,” said 56-year-old Ahmed Baroud, a father of five displaced in Deir al-Balah. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
