Oil rises and global stocks wobble amid worries over ‘fragile’ ceasefire deal in Middle East – business live
Posted on Thursday April 09, 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Oil prices are still rising this morning, as markets question the durability of the ceasefire deal between the US and Iran.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, is now up by about 3% to $97.88 a barrel.

We’ve obviously had a very big shock in the last month or so, with the conflict breaking out in the Middle East, that has prompted, obviously, much greater market volatility. I mean, we all have to get up in the morning and find out what’s gone on overnight. At least we got up yesterday and found the world was still with us, but it obviously is very volatile. Yesterday was a good day in point to illustrate that.”

It’s a very good environmental argument, don’t get me wrong. But there is also an economic argument here as well, because it’s certainly the case for the UK that we are still reliant on gas quite often, but less than we used to be, as the marginal source of energy.

But the share of renewables has grown, and I know the UK government’s very focused on this question as to what we learn from the events we’re going through at the moment, what’s the right thing to do.”

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Give all UK households a set amount of subsidised energy, says thinktank
Posted on Thursday April 09, 2026

Proposal to help people heat two rooms, provide hot water and run key appliances without incurring more debt

In order to cut rising bills all UK households should receive a minimum amount of energy at rates subsidised by the government through North Sea taxes, a thinktank has suggested.

Providing all homes with enough energy to heat two rooms, provide hot water and run key appliances such as a fridge and washing machine, at rates frozen at current levels, would require a subsidy of about £4.5bn, according to the New Economics Foundation.

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Retail workers call for more security after Waitrose sacking for tackling shoplifter
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Shop workers’ union Usdaw says 59% of its members in its annual survey said they would welcome more security guards in stores

Retail workers have called for more security guards in stores after a Waitrose worker was sacked for confronting a shoplifter.

Waitrose has been criticised over its treatment of Walker Smith after the Guardian reported he was fired two days after he stopped a shoplifter taking items from an Easter egg display, including Lindt chocolate bunnies.

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Britain breaks solar energy record twice as UK’s biggest solar farm gets approval
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Record high set on Monday and raised on Tuesday, with 14.4GW of electricity generated in sunny spring weather

Britain’s sunny spring weather powered the grid to new solar energy records on two consecutive days this week.

Solar farms in England, Wales and Scotland generated 14.1GW of low-carbon electricity at lunchtime on Monday, surpassing the previous high of 14GW in July last year.

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Britons warned about Russian hackers targeting internet routers for espionage
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Expert stresses importance of staying alert for unusual activity, as hackers could ‘take you to fake sites’

• UK politics live – latest updates

Russian hackers are exploiting commonly sold internet routers to harvest information for espionage purposes, the UK’s cybersecurity agency has said.

The hack could allow attackers to obtain users’ credentials, redirect them to fake sites, and potentially access other devices on their home network such as phones and PCs, said Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey.

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Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers
Posted on Tuesday April 07, 2026

Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34%

• ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare

Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the crime.

The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators. The figure is 34% higher than in 2024.

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How Augusta National outwitted ticket resellers and kept door closed on Trump
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

One of the great lessons of the Masters is money only goes so far, with strict rules designed to keep out ticket touts

Jeffrey Epstein’s web of influence stretched from European palaces to Ivy League universities and Wall Street banks, but there was apparently at least one little corner of the establishment that seems to have been beyond his reach: Augusta National. In July 2019, Epstein sent an iMessage to Steve Bannon asking for his help with a particularly difficult problem. “Need to work magic to get brad Karp admitted to augusta golf club,” Epstein wrote. “The head of Paul Weiss Brad Karp?” Bannon replied. “Yes.”

Karp, the former chair of the legal firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, stepped down from his position in February because of his ties with Epstein.

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Grand National 2026: horse-by-horse guide to all the runners
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

I Am Maximus, the 2024 winner, heads to Aintree on Saturday as favourite to triumph again. Here is a look at the chances of all 34 contenders

One of two previous winners at the top of the weights and he backed up his 2024 success by pressing Nick Rockett all the way to the Elbow 12 months ago before finally crying enough. He had shown precious few hints of his National-winning form in two runs before that exceptional performance under top weight and has more to recommend him this year, having finished second in a Grade One in December and fifth in the Irish Gold Cup. In strict handicapping terms, he should probably find one or two too good, but Aintree aptitude is a serious weapon and another podium place is no forlorn hope.

Verdict: each-way hope on Aintree form, but no top-weight winner since 70s

Verdict: impeccable pedigree – but for the Derby, not the National

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