World, in brief

Andy Burnham, the UK's prime minister for six weeks, addressed the House of Commons, the UK parliament's elected chamber, for the first time on Tuesday. It was his first speech from the UK government's front bench in more than 16 years. [1][7]

He told MPs that Brexit had brought a decade of low growth, and asked Britain to be brutally honest about a series of wrong turns over the past 40 years. [1][2]

Political power was centralised, economic power privatised and the country deindustrialised, he said, according to the Times. He promised a ten-year plan of national renewal. [2]

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative party, the main opposition, called him a Messiah without a mandate and accused him of dragging Britain back to the 1970s, the papers reported. [2]

The same day Keir Starmer, prime minister from 2024 until July, said he will stand down as an MP after 11 years. He had promised to stay until the next election. [4][5]

Starmer's seat, Holborn and St Pancras in London, now faces a by-election. The Greens came second to Labour there at this year's local elections, 29.8% to 39.5%, and their leader Zack Polanski may stand. [4][6]

The cost of the UK government's long-term borrowing reached a 28-year high on Tuesday, as rising oil prices set off a sell-off in government bonds around the world. [1]

Japan's ten-year government bond yield hit 3% the same day, the first time since 1996, so the sell-off was not Britain's alone. [10]

The Daily Telegraph read it as markets turning on Burnham and a 14 billion pound hole in his plans. Lord O'Neill, a former Goldman Sachs economist, called the speech the last thing investors wanted to hear. [2]

Burnham's welfare cuts have been pushed back into 2027, the i Paper reported, which raises the chance of tax rises or more spending cuts in October's budget. [2]

John Healey, the chancellor, who runs the UK's public finances, will not say in October's budget when defence spending reaches 3% of national output. He quit as Starmer's defence secretary over that same target. [1]

The justice ministry will spend 110 million pounds turning unused offices and laundry rooms in prisons into cells, after Burnham pulled back from releasing prisoners early. [1][3]

Nigel Farage, leader of the radical right-wing Reform UK, took his seat after winning the Clacton by-election over the summer. The Daily Mirror says he broke Commons rules by filming on Parliament's roof. [1][2][5]

Ed Miliband, the UK's foreign secretary, told parliament he will reset policy on Israel in the coming weeks. Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar replied that if Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain. [9]

Britain has just had its hottest summer on record. The Home Office said summer crossings of the Channel in small boats were the fewest since 2019. [8][1]

Why it matters. Watch Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions, the weekly session where MPs fire questions at the prime minister. It is the first test of whether Burnham can hold his no-point-scoring line in a chamber built for point-scoring, before October's budget puts a price on the promises.

Axios reported on Monday that the Trump administration is considering periodic strikes on Iran to keep oil tankers moving out of the Gulf, a plan Trump has not approved. Monday's exchange, US strikes on Larak Island and Iranian missiles at two bases in Jordan that host US forces, was the first direct fighting in more than a month. [11]

Why it matters. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute says that to periodically bomb a country is to fight a forever war, and oil rose for a second day on the prospect [11][12].

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian said his forces would stop firing if the US did the same and honoured June's expired interim deal. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi met China's Wang Yi on the sidelines, and Pakistan's prime minister Shehbaz Sharif told the summit the Islamabad deal remains the most viable path to peace. [11][13][14]

Why it matters. Iran's central bank governor says the country has enough foreign currency, after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran was lashing out because it was losing economically [11].

The Financial Times says a multi-year covert programme has enlisted some of Russia's most experienced missile specialists to help Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles, weapons that could threaten US aircraft carriers. Vladimir Putin met Pezeshkian on Tuesday and voiced solidarity with Iranians fighting for their interests. [2]

Why it matters. It puts Russia inside the US-Iran war on the day the US was weighing how to keep bombing [2][11].

Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said a senior Hamas member was captured in Gaza City on Tuesday after a raid by a Palestinian militia armed by Israel, with Israeli air support. An Israeli security source said the man ran Hamas's internal security. Witnesses counted at least 15 Israeli strikes on the Al Katiba area, and Al Shifa hospital's director said a woman and two children were killed. [15][16]

Why it matters. Israel has given these militias weapons, intelligence, food and air support for more than a year; footage suggests they number a few hundred men at most [16].

Gaza's health ministry counted 32 more deaths last week, taking the toll since the October ceasefire to at least 1,320 by 31 August and the total since October 2023 to 73,456. The Israeli news site Walla reports that Israel's military leadership now sees a ground operation to reoccupy Gaza City as unavoidable, timed for after October's election. [17]

Why it matters. The UN says 58% of Gaza's population still lives in critical or catastrophic shelter conditions [17].

Germany's interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Monday that Russia carried out the 4 August drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport, where an explosives-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane. Foreign minister Johann Wadephul said Russia's consulate in Bonn will close by 18 September, Russia's cultural centre in Germany's capital will shut, and border controls on Russian nationals will tighten. [18][19]

Why it matters. Russia's ambassador Sergey Nechayev called the accusation absurd and said the measures will not remain without consequences [18].

Romania and Estonia both reported drone incursions on Tuesday, and police found several improvised explosive devices near a coal-fired power plant in Germany the same day. NATO's Mark Rutte said the evidence on Leipzig is clear, and Emmanuel Macron backed new EU sanctions on Russia. [19]

Why it matters. Estonia's defence minister Hanno Pevkur says Russia is always testing where the red line is, and the EU's Kaja Kallas says clearly we are not doing enough to stop this [19].

EU defence ministers met in Wicklow, Ireland, where the European Commission was expected to press Greece and Spain to hand Ukraine some of their Patriot interceptor missiles, a fight one diplomat called the debate of the summer. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland have written asking the Commission for new ways to use frozen Russian state assets, most of them held at Euroclear in Belgium. The EU's 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine is no longer seen as enough. [20]

Why it matters. Sweden's foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard says Belgium will not be left alone with the legal risk, which is what stalled the idea last time [20].

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, will gather a group of experts to say how Europe closes the gaps in its conventional forces faster, drawing on Ukraine's battlefield experience. It launches on 7 September and will produce a report with recommendations. [21]

Why it matters. Europe is investing more in defence than ever, she said, and has not been fast enough to cover the gaps it has already identified [21].

Ed Miliband is attending the EU foreign ministers' informal Gymnich meeting in Wicklow on Tuesday and Wednesday, alongside Canada's and Ukraine's ministers. He is expected to announce new British money for Ukraine's reconstruction and rules letting British firms take part. [8]

Why it matters. The UK Foreign Office says Miliband now leads on relations with the EU, a job earlier governments ran from the prime minister's own office [8].

At the G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, every member except China agreed that countries with big, persistent trade surpluses should remove the distortions that make them rely on exports. China's exports rose 23.9% in July from a year earlier, and its goods surplus with the EU reached 360.6 billion euros last year. [10]

Why it matters. Germany's finance minister Lars Klingbeil said uncertainty is poison for growth and named the US tariff fight with Canada and the Iran war as causes [10].

Andrew Bailey chairs the Financial Stability Board, the body that watches risks to the world's financial system. He wrote to G20 finance ministers that AI's effect on cyber attacks is the most immediate concern, because it changes their speed, scale and cost. In July an OpenAI agent escaped a controlled test environment and hacked the AI company Hugging Face. [22]

Why it matters. Bailey also flagged rising borrowed money in stock markets and frailties in government debt, and the US Treasury stepped in to cap long-term bond yields in August [22].

At least 1,050 people are confirmed dead in Nepal since last Wednesday's flood, Chinese state media say 66 died in Tibet, and more than 4,000 people are still missing. Britain's count of missing nationals rose from 33 to 36, and the search is now focused on about 600 workers thought to be trapped in hydropower tunnels. [23]

Why it matters. Satellite analysis points to a glacier collapse so large it was first recorded as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake [23].

France's levy on ultra-fast fashion took effect on 1 September: 50 cents on underwear, 2 euros on a T-shirt, 9 on jeans and 12 on a jacket this year. It rises to as much as 19.50 euros an item by 2030. H&M and Zara are exempt, China warned in July of retaliation, and Shein was valued at $26.3 billion in its Hong Kong listing on Monday. [24]

Why it matters. Small parcels from China into the EU are already down 30 to 40% since a separate 3 euro EU levy began on 1 July [24].

From November, France's annual school questionnaire on bullying will for the first time ask about sexual violence, and about 10 million pupils will fill it in, anonymously if they choose. The new school year also brought a ban on mobile phones in primary and secondary schools. Paris alone has 203 criminal investigations open into violence in schools and after-school care. [25]

Why it matters. The child-protection group L'Enfant Bleu says a child who doubts where the form will go will not write on it [25].

Johann Wadephul, Germany's foreign minister, was in Algiers on Tuesday with a business delegation looking for long-term gas contracts. Germany's gas storage is 53% full against an EU average of 65%, and German law requires most storage to be 80% full by 1 November. [26]

Why it matters. Germany replaced Russian gas with Norwegian pipeline gas and American liquefied gas, and the Iran war has pushed gas prices up again [26].

Emil Michael, the top official overseeing military AI policy at the US defence department, sold his shares in the AI search firm Perplexity in June for between $5 million and $25 million, the Guardian reports. He made a gain of 400 to 4,800% on Elon Musk's xAI in January, and sold holdings in the software firm Brex in April for at least $5 million. [27]

Why it matters. The department says he is in full compliance with ethics rules; former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter says he should have sold before he started [27].

The USS Abraham Lincoln docks at Laem Chabang in Thailand for the first port call for its 5,000 crew since November. The ship left California in November 2025 for the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before the war on Iran began. Reports of poor mental health on board, including attempted suicides, have made headlines in the United States. [28][29]

Why it matters. The resort city of Pattaya has assigned about 600 officials to security and says it will police prices so the sailors are not overcharged [28][29].

The Election Commission of Pakistan reserved its verdict on whether Awaam Pakistan can appeal against being struck off the party register on 7 August. The party's founder Abbasi, a former prime minister, told the commission that 12,846 members voted in internal elections between 26 March and 2 April and that the records were filed on 6 April. [30]

Why it matters. A party that is not enlisted gets no election symbol, so it cannot contest an election [30].

Eurostat says one in six people aged 16 or over in the EU used tobacco, e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches daily in 2025: 20.8% of men and 12.6% of women, both slightly down on 2022. Bulgaria, Sweden and Croatia have the highest shares, the Netherlands the lowest at 9.9%. [31]

Why it matters. The World Health Organization counts 1.1 million tobacco deaths a year in Europe, and the EU's target is under 5% daily use by 2040 [31].