Good morning – let’s grab a coffee and catch up on what’s making headlines in the UK and beyond today.
There’s some relief on the way for households as energy bills are set to fall for the first time in a year. Ofgem has confirmed a 7% cut to the energy price cap from July, which means the average household in England, Scotland and Wales will see their annual bill drop by around £129.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signed a significant agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. As part of the deal, the UK will lease back the vital military base on Diego Garcia for £101 million a year, securing its use for an initial 99-year period.
In England, public sector workers are seeing a boost in their pay packets. Teachers and doctors will receive a 4% pay rise following recommendations from official pay review bodies. While education unions have largely welcomed the decision, they’ve warned that schools could face budget shortfalls without additional funding. Meanwhile, health unions have criticised a smaller 3.6% increase for NHS staff such as nurses and midwives.
On the global stage, tensions are rising after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a scathing attack on Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Canada. Netanyahu accused them of siding with Hamas, following recent international criticism of Israel’s military actions. The comments came after two people were shot dead at the Israeli embassy in Washington, which has further strained diplomatic relations.
In the United States, the Trump administration has taken dramatic action against Harvard University, revoking its ability to enrol international students. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Harvard had failed to comply with immigration laws, while the university has called the move “unlawful” and a direct threat to academic freedom.
And finally, a suspect has been charged with the murder of two Israeli embassy staff members outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC. US prosecutors are treating the shooting as a hate crime and an act of terror, and have confirmed it’s a death penalty-eligible case. More charges are expected as the investigation continues.
Browsing: Chagos Islands
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has signed a major agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while leasing back the strategic military base on Diego Garcia for £101 million a year.
Good morning! Grab your coffee and let’s take a brisk scroll through today’s headlines…
In politics, Sir Keir Starmer has bowed to pressure and announced a U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts. The scheme, which had been scaled back to save £1.4 billion, left over 10 million pensioners without support. Starmer now says more pensioners will qualify again, with changes expected in the autumn Budget – though the exact numbers and timing are still under wraps. It comes after Labour lost big to Reform UK during recent local elections.
Meanwhile, a government-commissioned review has suggested that prisoners should serve only a third of their sentences in custody, rather than the current half. There are proposals to chemically castrate sex offenders in order to release them earlier in a bid to free up spaces in prisons.
In economic news, the UK government’s borrowing reached £20.2 billion in April, surpassing expectations and placing additional pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
After lots of glorious sunshine, the UK is set to experience a shift in weather just in time for the bank holiday weekend. The Met Office forecasts unsettled conditions, with many areas expecting rain or showers and more unpredictable weather patterns continuing into the half-term week.
Elsewhere, the UK government has been temporarily blocked from finalising a landmark deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, following a late-night injunction granted by the High Court.
In sport, underdogs are stealing the spotlight. Crystal Palace shocked football fans by beating Manchester City 1–0 to lift the FA Cup – their first major trophy. Not to be outdone, Spurs ended their 17-year silverware drought with a scrappy 1–0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League final, with Brennan Johnson the unlikely hero.
On the international front, there has been a shooting in the US with two Israeli embassy staffers shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
The WHO has said Gaza’s health service is ‘stretched beyond breaking point’ and Donald Trump held a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – in which the US president ambushed his counterpart with unfounded claims of genocide against white South Africans.
A High Court injunction has temporarily blocked the UK government from finalising a deal to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, initiated by legal action from Chagossian woman Bertrice Pompe.
PM Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump dominates much of the UK’s news this Friday. The British Prime Minister met with the US president in what much of the media is dubbing a ‘White House summit’. To almost everyone’s surprise, the meeting appeared to go well, with a UK-US trade deal expected soon, the president backing the prime minister’s Chagos deal, and the president effectively ruling out a US backstop for Ukraine.
Britain and its former colony reached a deal in October 2024 to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. British…