A barrel of Brent crude - the international benchmark - has risen steadily since last week and is threatening to remain consistently above the $100 milestone for the first time since May.

Prices have been elevated ever since the US-Iran war began at the end of February but have, more recently, become immune to US claims, or hopes, of peace progress following several false starts.

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Oil costs have been on the rise since last week.

The latest upward pressures have included attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure by Iran-supporting Houthi rebels.

The tipping point came after Iran said it had struck a US base in Jordan.

It was an apparent response to US claims that five Iranian oil tankers had been destroyed, in retaliation for two ballistic missile strikes that targeted one of its warships.

The developments have raised fresh fears of a supply squeeze given the loss of that Iranian tanker capacity, which would probably have served Chinese orders.

The hostilities across the Middle East are preventing usual supplies of oil and natural gas to international markets, with the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz usually responsible for a fifth of global oil and natural gas shipments.

While Brent crude oil costs are almost 50% up over the past 12 months, wholesale gas prices for the UK are 125% higher than in September 2025.

Use our tracker below to see the impact of the Iran war on the economy, including oil prices, which is updated throughout the day.

The disparity can be explained by the fact that oil shortfalls can usually be replaced more easily than those for gas.

There is currently a scramble across Europe for natural gas stocks, with storage levels on the continent at their lowest for 12 years after buyers in Asia were prepared to pay more for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments.

It's threatening an expensive winter ahead for UK energy and fuel bills, with these higher costs also expected to feed into wider inflation in the months ahead.

Stock markets were broadly lower as the oil milestone was reached while bond yields - the interest rate demanded by investors to hold government debt - were widely on the rise.

Neil Wilson, Saxo UK's investor strategist, said of the moves this week: "Markets are pricing in a longer war and more disruption to global energy markets... A sense today of disruption and conflict being a feature rather than a bug, and the implications for global markets that follow from [a] structurally higher inflation dynamic alongside fiscal pressures."

UK longer-term borrowing costs were, again, hovering close to levels not seen since the last century.

The prospect of economic damage from an acceleration in the pace of price growth is one reason why bond market investors across much of the Western world are demanding a higher premium to hold government debt.

Extra costs, and the likelihood of damage to demand in the economy from those costs alongside rising central bank interest rates to help curb inflation, place additional pressures on the public purse.

They include weaker tax receipts and a bigger debt bill.

The cost of servicing existing UK government borrowing is already tipped to exceed £110bn in the current financial year.

The market moves present a real headache for Chancellor John Healey's first budget, due towards the end of next month.

He has pledged to stick to his predecessor's fiscal rules, limiting his wriggle room for more spending without tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere.

Aaron Turner, 22, of Higham, has been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and drug possession after a white Ford Focus hit three cyclists, killing two, Kent Police said.

The incident happened in Cobham near Gravesend on Sunday morning.

Turner has also been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision.

Emergency services attended the scene near the junction with Round Street where two of the riders, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s were confirmed dead.

A third cyclist was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but their injuries were described as minor.

A 21-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and a 19-year-old woman who was detained on suspicion of assisting an offender have been released on bail.

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'Very hot' drinks can increase the risk of developing cancer

Turner will appear at Medway Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Officers from Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit continue to appeal to anyone who witnessed the incident, or saw the car or cyclists prior to the collision, to contact them.

In a survey of nearly a million people in the UK, researchers found those who had their drinks "very hot" faced around a three times higher risk of the illness than people who drank them "warm".

Steaming hot liquid can damage the cell lining of the food pipe on the way down to the stomach, which could increase the chance of cancer developing, experts believe.

Using data from around 980,000 adults, researchers found people who said they enjoyed hot drinks had around a 1.7 times higher risk of cancer.

Experts from Oxford Population Health at the University of Oxford assessed the data taken from the UK Biobank and the Million Women Study.

Hot drinks have been linked to a risk of oesophageal cancer before, but this is the most comprehensive study to examine the issue.

The number of hot drinks consumed is also a factor, with anyone having six or more a day facing a higher risk compared to those drinking fewer than six.

Letting tea and coffee cool down first or adding cold milk can negate the risk, experts have said.

The study did not record the temperature of drinks, but in 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified drinking very hot beverages (above 65C) as "probably carcinogenic".

The new study said the temperature at which coffee and tea is drunk in Western populations is estimated to be around 60C.

Fiona Osgun of Cancer Research UK, said the research adds to the evidence that "drinking very hot drinks could increase the risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma" and advised people to "let a cuppa cool down a little before taking a sip".

The two main types of oesophageal cancer are adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

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While drink temperature affected SCC risk in the study, there was no obvious impact on adenocarcinoma risk.

Overall, there are around 9,500 cases of oesophageal cancer in the UK every year.

People in the UK have around a 1% lifetime risk of being diagnosed with SCC.

Dr Keren Papier, from Oxford Population Health, said the report "adds to existing evidence that drinking very hot drinks could increase the risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

"More research is now needed to identify the exact drink temperatures linked to this increased risk."

Ms Osgun said the risk of being diagnosed with this cancer "remains relatively low in the UK", while not smoking and cutting down on alcohol are "the most important ways to reduce the risk of this cancer type".

Flights were disrupted on Tuesday by a technical fault at air traffic control provider NATS - and the backlog of delays continued into Wednesday, causing hundreds more cancellations.

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Whether it's a man-made problem or a weather issue, flights are often prone to lengthy delays or cancellations.

Here's a look at what rights you have as a passenger if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

Your rights during delays

Your flight is covered by UK law if it departs or arrives at a UK airport on a UK or EU airline, or arrives at an EU airport on a UK airline.

When it comes to significant delays, UK law says airlines must provide you with care and assistance.

Significant delays are classed as:

• More than two hours for short-haul flights of under 1,500km (932 miles)
• More than three hours for medium-haul flights of 1,500km-3,500km (932 to 2,175 miles)
• More than four hours for long-haul flights of over 3,500km

Here's what the law says the airline must provide you with until it can fly you to your destination:

• A reasonable amount of food and drink
• A means for you to communicate (often by refunding the cost of your calls)
• Accommodation, if you are re-routed the next day
• Transport to and from the accommodation (or your home, if you are able to return there)

It says this must be provided for you for however long delays last, irrespective of what has caused them.

Airlines may not always be able to arrange care and assistance for all passengers during major disruptions directly, but the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says you can organise the things listed for yourself and then claim the cost back from your airline later if you keep every receipt and do not spend more than is deemed reasonable.

In other words, don't splash out on things like alcohol and luxury hotels during your wait and expect to claim your money back later.

Who isn't covered?

People who are flying on a non-UK or non-EU airline from outside of Europe are "the people to be concerned about", travel expert Simon Calder told Sky News.

"Those airlines, because they're not British, do not have any obligations when they are flying to the UK from their home countries," he says.

"So they might look after you - but they can just turn around and say, 'look, this isn't our fault. You're on your own. Good luck finding a hotel.' And then you will try and claim from your travel insurance."

What are your rights if your flight is cancelled?

If your flight is cancelled, the airline must either give you a refund or book you on an alternative flight.

You can get your money back for all parts of a ticket you haven't used, the CAA says.

If you have booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, for example, you can get the full cost of the return ticket back from your airline.

"If you are a transfer passenger and you have already completed part of your journey, you are also entitled to a flight back to your original departure point when your connecting flight is cancelled and you decide not to continue your journey," it adds.

If you still want to travel, your airline must find you an alternative flight - whether it is the next available one, or a flight at an alternative, later date.

If another airline is flying significantly sooner than yours is able to offer, you may have the right to be booked onto a rival airline's flight, but this has to be negotiated with the company.

On last-minute cancellations, Naveen Dittakavi, founder and chief executive of Next Vacay, said: "If you're already at the airport once the flight is cancelled, the best thing you can do is stay calm - you are protected against many things that might go wrong.

"Try calling the airline helpline rather than waiting to speak directly with the airport staff. The helpline is often more flexible and may provide you with an e-credit or voucher, or flexibility to change your travel dates quickly."

Can you get compensation?

In some cases, airlines may have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late - but that is only if the delay is deemed to be your airline's fault.

Disruptions caused by things deemed "extraordinary circumstances" are not eligible for compensation, according to the CAA.

Extraordinary circumstances cover a lot of the things that normally result in flight delays, including weather and strikes unrelated to the airline, for example by air traffic control or baggage handlers.

If your flight is cancelled, you can claim compensation if the reason is deemed within the airline's control and you received notice of no more than 14 days.

It will also depend on the timings of a new flight offered to you.

if you no longer want to travel, you are entitled to a refund if you have been delayed by more than five hours.

What happens in reality?

Airlines often fail to provide this assistance during major disruption because of being overwhelmed by requests and a shortage of available rooms in local hotels.

In this scenario, the CAA says passengers can organise their own assistance and claim the costs back from the airline by submitting receipts.

During a flurry of social media posts over the long holiday weekend, the US president posted a map showing the country sprawling across all of North America, and extending to Greenland and Iceland.

In the post, Canada, Mexico, Iceland and Greenland, as well as islands in the Caribbean, all appear coloured in the red, white and blue stars and stripes of the US flag.

Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the national broadcaster DR on Tuesday that it was "obviously a sign that the US president still harbours some kind of maximalist vision in his own mind".

"We need to rein that in," the politician said, calling the post "disturbing and, in many ways, completely inappropriate".

Iceland's foreign secretary, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, summoned US ambassador Billy Long to a meeting and said she made it clear that the post was unacceptable, national broadcaster RUV said.

President Trump's post came on Monday as the European Union sought to reassure Greenland with the promise of a stronger partnership and hundreds of millions of euros in investment following Trump's repeated threats.

Iceland, another NATO member that is just 180 miles (290km) away from Greenland, became alarmed when Trump mistakenly named the country four times while speaking about his designs on Greenland.

It led its left-leaning coalition government to move forward a referendum, originally planned for next year, on whether the country should resume long-stalled negotiations to become a member of the EU.

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The measure, which was promoted, in part, as an effort to strengthen ties with Europe to better insulate the country from global instability, was rejected in a referendum on 30 August.

Mr Trump also suggested renaming the state of New Mexico as "New America".

The posts came less than a fortnight after Trump ordered Lake Ontario on the Canadian border to be renamed "Lake America" amid an escalating trade war with Canada.

In 2025, the US president made headlines when he passed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

In an apparent response to Trump's renaming, the creators of TV show South Park have announced it will be renamed South America for its upcoming 29th series.