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Chaos as key transit hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha close, and more than 1,000 flights by major Middle Eastern airlines cancelledFull report: US president announces death of the ayatollah, who has ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989Latest updates: Trump says Khamenei is deadAmerica and Israel's attack on Iran disrupted flights across the Middle East and beyond as countries around the region closed their airspace and three of the key airports that connect Europe, Africa and the west to Asia halted operations.Hundreds of thousands of travellers were either stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. There also was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government there announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace. Continue reading......

CEO Sam Altman claims military will not use AI product for autonomous killing systems or mass surveillanceOpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Pentagon to supply AI to classified US military networks, hours after Donald Trump ordered the government to stop using the services of one of the company's main competitors.Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, announced the move on Friday night. It came after an agreement between Anthropic, a rival AI company that runs the Claude system, and the Trump administration broke down after Anthropic sought assurances its technology would not be used for mass surveillance – nor for autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input. Continue reading......

The education secretary wants a fairer system and the Tories have leapt in with their own plan – but why now?For anyone who attended university in England in the last 15 or so years, the idea of student loans feeling like some sort of debt trap is hardly news. But three weeks ago, when the journalist Oli Dugmore discussed this on the BBC's Question Time, it felt like a moment.It was less the size of the initial debt, he explained, than the way above-inflation interest rates meant the interest charged alone was now almost as much as the original sum. “So was it mis-sold to me?” he asked, rhetorically. “Yes, I'd say so.” Continue reading......

With David Ellison's Paramount Skydance poised to buy Warner Bros Discovery, the president is tightening his grip on the US mediaGet Margaret Sullivan's latest columns delivered straight to your inbox by signing up hereFor many years, Donald Trump has trashed CNN and has taught his loyal followers to do the same.During the 2016 presidential campaign, angry chants of “CNN sucks!” reverberated at his campaign rallies, and he still jumps at every opportunity to disparage star CNN journalists such as Kaitlan Collins. Continue reading......

Panic about antisocial behaviour and theft has broken through from social media to boardrooms and diplomatic circles“Just visit London and you'll see that it's filled with crime,” the tech billionaire Elon Musk said as he was beamed into Tommy Robinson's far-right rally in the UK capital last September.The comments by the SpaceX and Tesla boss, part of a roving speech that was later condemned by the UK government, added to a growing wave of anti-London disinformation that has spread in recent months. That includes Donald Trump's notorious comments of London “no-go zones” and Nigel Farage's warnings against wearing jewellery after 9pm in the West End. Continue reading......

As the storied London dining room reopens on its bicentenary, restaurateur Jeremy King honours its heritage while restoring a faded iconSimpson's in the Strand was the sort of London institution where nothing changed without very good reason. Founded in 1828 as a coffee and chess club, the restaurant introduced wheeled silver trolleys so waiters could dispense roast beef and gravy without disturbing the players' concentration, and kept them long after the chessboards had gone. In the 1860s, to emphasise its focus on British food, Simpson's rejected the French word “menu” in favour of “bill of fare”, and so it would remain.Ornate, self-consciously stately and a bit stuffy, it was as English as Charles Dickens, PG Wodehouse and Winston Churchill – all of whom, perhaps unsurprisingly, were devoted patrons. Wodehouse described Simpson's as “a restful temple of food” where, as one of his characters observed, diners were “at liberty to eat till you were helpless, if you felt so disposed”. ...

Cygnet Texkimp was approved to export machines to Rydena, but ministers examining deal after Guardian highlighted founders' links to Kremlin military supply chainMinisters are reviewing a decision to allow a British company to export hi-tech equipment to Armenia after the Guardian uncovered links to the Russian military supply chain.Cygnet Texkimp, based in Cheshire, was weeks away from exporting two machines that produce carbon fibre “prepreg”, a lightweight material that can be used in a range of civil and military applications. Continue reading......

Businesses are vying for a refund, with nearly $175bn on the line, but customers are unlikely to benefit from reversalAt 8am, two hours before the US supreme court officially slapped down Donald Trump's “liberation day” tariffs on 20 February, Joseph Spraragen's phone was already ringing off the hook.The seasoned New York-based attorney and his 40-strong specialised trade team at Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt (GDLSK) had spent months filing hundreds of lawsuits for heavy-hitter clients, including luxury brands Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, in protest of the US president's decision to impose sweeping import taxes last April. Continue reading......

As the director general prepares to stand down, potential candidates have fallen away amid a series of crisesThere is an impressive shortlist circulating in Britain's media circles, comprising some of the most talented executives in the business. Unfortunately for the BBC, it contains the names of figures no longer in the running to become its next director general.Those closely observing the corporation's search for a successor to Tim Davie have been quick to note how the events of the past week help explain the alarming attrition rate. Continue reading......

The president's cuts have defunded and alienated thousands of American scientists. Europe can benefit, if it makes the right offerDonald Trump has spent much of his second term at war with science and scientists. He is cutting staff at institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a third, and has cancelled or frozen up to 8,000 federal research grants. This hasn't just hurt individual research programmes, it has damaged America's credibility as a reliable partner in the scientific community. It is not surprising that many researchers – one poll last year by the journal Nature gave the number of 75% – say they are considering leaving the US entirely.However, it is one thing to express dissatisfaction, and quite another to up sticks and leave. If the UK and EU want to attract elite scientific talent, their approach must be twofold: appealing directly to scientists concerned with political interference in their research, and offering stable, ringfenced money.Do you have an opinion...

Sherry Xue Li ripped off millions from foreign investors and funnelled some stolen money into US political campaignsA New York businesswoman was sentenced Friday to nine years in federal prison over a financial scheme that ripped off more than $30m from foreign investors and funnelled some of the stolen money into US political campaigns, including a Donald Trump fundraiser during his first presidency.Sherry Xue Li was also ordered to forfeit $31.5m, as well as property at three locations, and to make restitution to her victims. Continue reading......

Likelihood of winning to decrease after NS&I cut the proportion of the total invested amount paid out in prizesThere was some bad news this week for Britain's 22 million-strong army of premium bond holders: the odds of winning a prize are to get worse.National Savings and Investments (NS&I) says it is cutting the proportion of the total invested amount paid out in prizes from 3.6% to 3.3% a year with effect from April's draw. Continue reading......

Falling groundwater, extreme heat and water-intensive farming are accelerating land collapse, forcing a rethink in agricultural practicesFatih Sik was drinking tea with friends at home when he heard a rumbling sound outside that grew to a loud boom, like a volcano had erupted nearby. From the window, he saw water and mud shoot into the sky, as high as the tallest trees, less than 100 metres away.The 47-year-old knew what it was, because it is common in Karapınar, Konya, a vast agricultural province known as Turkey's breadbasket. A giant sinkhole had opened up on his land. Fifty metres wide and 40 metres deep, it had appeared almost a year to the day after a previous one had formed. It was August – the hottest month of the year. Continue reading......

Chelsea left particularly frustrated by Uefa actionsClubs were not briefed about plans to release informationPremier League clubs are unhappy with Uefa's decision to reveal details of their financial results before some have been published and without warning.Chelsea's record pre-tax loss of £355m last season formed a key part of Uefa's European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report, which was presented by its executive director, Andrea Traverso, at the Financial Times's Business of Football Summit on Thursday, with the losses incurred by Tottenham and Aston Villa also featuring prominently. Continue reading......

Attorney general says $111bn deal will be investigated amid concerns over monopoly power and job lossesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxRob Bonta, California's attorney general, said his office will investigate a possible merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery, hours after Netflix backed away from a planned takeover.“Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal,” Bonta said in a post on X. “These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny — the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review.” Continue reading......

Deal signals feverish pace of AI investment with multibillion-dollar backings from Nvidia, Amazon and moreOpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110bn in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840bn, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence.It's more than double the amount the company raised last year, when it racked up $40bn in the largest private tech deal on record. Continue reading......

Kate Fox says Joe Ceccanti was the 'most hopeful person' before he started spending 12 hours a day with a chatbotOn 7 August, Kate Fox received a phone call that upended her life. A medical examiner said that her husband, Joe Ceccanti – who had been missing for several hours – had jumped from a railway overpass and died. He was 48.Fox couldn't believe it. Ceccanti had no history of depression, she said, nor was he suicidal – he was the “most hopeful person” she had ever known. In fact, according to the witness accounts shared with Fox later, just before Ceccanti jumped, he smiled and yelled: “I'm great!” to the rail yard attendants below when they asked him if he was OK. Continue reading......

As high rents push more adult children back to the family nest, it is vital to have a conversation about who pays whatWhen her 27-year- old son and 24-year-old daughter moved back home, Tricia Carter decided to ask them to pay rent. The 63-year-old, who lives in south London, charges them £300 each a month to cover bills including electricity and groceries.She has a comfortable income, but their contributions help to keep the books balanced. The money is also a way to make her children aware of the financial burden of living somewhere, she says. Continue reading......

There is no end in sight to the pollution caused by a 'broken' system. Experts say it could even be getting worseSarah Lambert took her usual morning swim for 40 minutes off Exmouth town beach before her volunteer shift helping disabled people get access to the water.A wheelchair user herself, Lambert's regular sea swims twice a week between the lifeboat station and HeyDays restaurant were the perfect form of exercise for her disability. Continue reading......

Case brought by 29 workers and backed by UVW union seen as test case that could lead to changes at other restaurantsHarrods is facing legal action over its addition of a £1-a-head cover charge to diners' bills that does not go to workers, in a test case that could lead to changes at a string of upmarket restaurants.Legislation, which came into force in October 2024, requires business owners to hand over all tips and service charges to staff. Some restaurants, including those at Harrods, add a mandatory cover charge as well as an optional service charge and only pass on the latter to their workers. Continue reading......