Sunday, 25 October 2026
Sun 25 Oct · At a glance
Sunday, 25 October 2026
Dear fuel from the Iran war reaches food banks as Britain's Budget and US vote near
266 stories in 12 beats
Signals: what moved across the beats
- Dearer fuel from the Iran warHigh ↑ · 3 beats
- Britain's Budget short of moneyBuilding ↑ · 3 beats
- AI firms buying all the computingHigh ↑ · 2 beats
- Decisions timed to the US voteBuilding ↑ · 4 beats
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Dearer fuel from the Iran war
Day 5 of this signal
Seen in 3 of the 12 beats
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Food
US diesel averaged $6.28 a gallon last week. A Detroit charity delivers 1,300 food boxes a month to older people who can no longer travel to collect food, up from 800 at the start of the year.
The Food stories →Finance
Prices in Pakistan rose 10.2% in July to September, against 4.3% a year earlier, as imported oil cost more. Its central bank, with its rate at 11.5%, meets on Monday.
The Finance stories →Climate
Oil leaking from a tanker hit in Iran's attacks on ships has shut beaches in three of the seven United Arab Emirates. By Wednesday the slick stretched more than 35 km from the tanker.
The Climate stories →What is going on
The war keeps diesel dear, and it raises the price of the oil that countries such as Pakistan must import.
What is going on
Those costs pass into shop prices and charities' running costs, and they land last on older people on low incomes and on Pakistani families whose prices rose 10.2%.
Britain's Budget short of money
Seen in 3 of the 12 beats
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Money
John Healey, the UK chancellor, promised 1bn pounds more for social and affordable homes in England before Wednesday's Budget. The BBC counts at most 3.5bn pounds a year from the three smaller taxes he could raise.
The Money stories →Finance
UK Finance, the lobby group for banks, sent Healey figures saying London taxes a big bank at 46.2%, more than Frankfurt, Dublin or New York. The Guardian's own sums put Paris higher, at 51.6% to 57.3%.
The Finance stories →Food
Restaurant owners blame the UK's 20% VAT, a sales tax, on restaurant meals, against about 12% on average in Europe, as London restaurants open in the Gulf. Chefs want the Budget to cut it.
The Food stories →What is going on
Healey has kept income tax, National Insurance and VAT rates off limits, so banks and restaurants each argue that the smaller taxes left should not land on them.
What is going on
Whatever he raises must help pay for defence and for energy help for households, which the Guardian puts at perhaps 1.5bn pounds.
AI firms buying all the computing
Seen in 2 of the 12 beats
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Tech
Amazon's boss said its cloud computers are largely sold out through 2027 and much of 2028. In China, workshops strip new RTX 5090 gaming cards, which are not officially sold there, and rebuild them for AI servers.
The Tech stories →Finance
Nvidia, whose chips run most AI, has promised to cover $36 billion of deals for smaller AI cloud firms if they fail. Shares in three of them, CoreWeave, Nebius and IREN, are down at least 30% this month.
The Finance stories →What is going on
AI firms rent all the computing Amazon and others can build, and the smaller firms renting it out lean on Nvidia's promise to cover their deals.
What is going on
Their shareholders pay first as doubts grow about whether AI earns enough, and neighbours of new data centres point to higher power bills, water use and noise.
Decisions timed to the US vote
Day 2 of this signal
Seen in 4 of the 12 beats
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Food
The US offered to back $5 billion of loans for small meat, poultry and seafood plants 11 days before the vote, but the money still waits on the US Congress. A US farm official said $8 billion of fuel aid will arrive after the vote.
The Food stories →Finance
The US central bank decides on interest rates on Wednesday, six days before the vote, and futures prices point to no change.
The Finance stories →Tech
Asked whom to vote for in nearly 500 races, Grok 4.7, Elon Musk's AI model, picked the Republican in 92% of its answers. OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol picked the Democrat in 97%.
The Tech stories →World
Former president Barack Obama headlined a rally in Detroit on Michigan's first day of early voting. Donald Trump voted early in Florida.
The World stories →What is going on
The US government is promising help before the vote and paying it after: the fuel aid for farmers probably comes at the end of the year.
What is going on
Meat plants get the loan announcement now, and the loan money only if Congress provides it.
Where the day is heading
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Dearer fuel from the Iran war
The next test is the State Bank of Pakistan's rate decision on Monday, where a senior banker told Dawn a rise of a full percentage point is needed.
Britain's Budget short of money
The next test is the Budget on Wednesday 28 October, and which taxes it names to pay for the homes.
AI firms buying all the computing
The next test is Amazon's results on 29 October, which will show whether its cloud sales match a boss who calls it sold out into 2028.
Decisions timed to the US vote
The next test is the vote on 3 November, which decides who controls the US Congress that must fund the loans.
The day, beat by beat
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World · 42 stories
Brazil votes in a tied runoff between Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, a day after 1.1 million people rallied for Lula on Copacabana beach
- Serbia votes on Vucic after two years of protest
- Iran blames the US for a failed deal
- US spy chief warns of Iranian plots
Finance · 27 stories
Traders bet the US, euro-zone and Japanese central banks wait this week and raise in December, while Canada's is expected to raise on Wednesday
- Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon report
- France's budget returns to parliament
- Nvidia's promises to its customers are tested
Tech · 18 stories
Amazon's boss says its cloud computers are largely sold out through 2027 and much of 2028, as AI firms rent all it can build
- Chatbots pick sides in US races
- Elvis songs' owners sue Anthropic
- First iPhone Duos crack at the hinge
Mind & body · 12 stories
Cocaine use in England is up 26% by sewage tests while no more people admit it, and record deaths fall mostly on users over 40, a Guardian investigation finds
- Oregon's automatic hospital aid reaches 64%
- A 93-year-old waits 10 hours on the floor
- A weight-loss drug and suicidal thoughts
Climate · 23 stories
Trump let 202 US plants skip new rules on cancer-causing air, and 3.3 million people live within three miles of one, a New York Times investigation finds
- UAE shuts more beaches as tanker oil spreads
- Record floods empty homes near Four Corners
- Storm Boelo hits Scotland at 85 mph
Space · 11 stories
NASA shuts down its Swift telescope after a failed rescue; it falls back to Earth in November, 22 years after launch
- Six military launches move to SpaceX
- China sends up seven spy satellites in a day
- NASA changes how it picks science missions
Biotech · 18 stories
Amgen's Imdelltra added to Imfinzi cuts the risk of death by 58% in small cell lung cancer, in a final trial shown at ESMO
- AstraZeneca's bladder pair trails a rival
- Bayer's Nubeqa holds back prostate cancer
- Erleada before and after prostate surgery
Money · 17 stories
Days before his first Budget, UK chancellor John Healey promises 1bn pounds more for social and affordable homes in England and a 1.5bn-pound borrowing fund for mayors
- Energy help may be about 1.5bn pounds
- Smaller taxes add up to 3.5bn pounds at most
- Capital gains tax raises 80% more
Sports · 41 stories
Nicolas Jackson scores twice as Aston Villa beat Manchester City 2-1 to end the leaders' perfect start, and Arsenal beat Everton to draw level with City on points
- Brewers lead the World Series 2-0
- NC State fire Doeren and owe him 9.75m dollars
- USC lose at Wisconsin as Riley's future is doubted
Gaming · 22 stories
LAIKA's Wildwood, a $100 million stop-motion film 16 years in the making, opens third in North America with about $11 million
- Elden Ring film's budget nears $200 million
- Netflix counts ten years of Korean shows
- Netflix will show Bengali series in three more languages
Food · 20 stories
The US offers to back $5 billion of loans for small meat, poultry and seafood plants, but the money still waits on the US Congress
- Iran's president says many lack food
- Pakistan orders action on wheat prices
- Pakistan reopens a border crossing to Iran
Cyber · 15 stories
LiteLLM says a key leaked on GitHub in May and never cancelled let an attacker take over its software releases
- Brotli flaw reaches Bun, Python and Envoy
- Ruby fixes the bugs behind GitLab's flaws
- Phishing takes over 4,500 Bluesky accounts
That's the day at a glance.
4 signals, seen across 6 beats. Now the stories, beat by beat.
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