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Oil price hits highest since 2022 after report Trump to be briefed on new Iran options

Oil price hits highest since 2022 after report Trump to be briefed on new Iran options3 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleOsmond ChiaandFaarea Masud,Business reportersCostfoto/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesOil prices jumped to their highest since 2022 after a report that the US military is set to brief President Donald Trump on new plans for potential action in the Iran war.
Brent crude rose by almost 7% to more than $126 (£94) a barrel at one point, before falling back.
US Central Command has prepared a plan for a wave of “short and powerful” strikes on Iran to try to break the deadlock in negotiations with Tehran, news site Axios reported. The BBC has contacted US Central Command and the White House for comment.
Energy prices have been rising this week as peace talks appear to have stalled, with the key Strait of Hormuz waterway still effectively closed.
'Just ridiculous': Americans react to gas pricesAbout 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) us..

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Luigi Mangione ‘does not support violent actions’ says lawyer for suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting

Luigi Mangione’s attorney says her client, who stands accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, “does not support violent actions.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo also argued that any attempts to connect the 27-year-old to other incidents, just as the U.S. sees a rise in political violence, are “dangerous and prejudicial.”
“As we have stated before in multiple public court filings, Mr Mangione does not support violent actions and does not condone past or future political violence,” Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement.
“These repeated attempts to connect him to unrelated acts or to insinuate that he condones or supports these acts are irresponsible, dangerous and prejudicial.”
open image in galleryLuigi Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said that her client ‘does not support violent actions' (AFP/Getty)The statement was issued in response to a request for comment by Fox News Digital in the wake of the recent, unrelated shooting at the White House Correspondents’..

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Iran-US war live: Hegseth erupts after conflict is dubbed a ‘quagmire’ by lawmaker during Congressional hearing

Hegseth explodes after Democrat accuses him of misleading country into 'disaster' Iran warEmbattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth erupted at a California Democrat who dubbed the war in Iran a “quagmire” during a congressional hearing into the conflict, which has so far cost an estimated $25 billion.
Hegseth is being questioned under oath by the House Armed Services Committee alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, as negotiations to end President Donald Trump’s war remain at an impasse.
California Democrat John Garamendi said Trump has got himself “stuck in the quagmire of another war in the Middle East” and accused Hegseth of “misleading” the American people.
“Shame on you for that statement,” Hegseth said. “Don't say, I support the troops on one hand, and then a two month mission is a quagmire…Who you cheering for here? Who you pulling for?”
The war, which Hegseth pledged in early March would likely last between “four to five weeks,” has now entered its eig..

World

Oil price soars above $118 after reports of ‘extended’ Iran blockade

Oil price soars above $118 after reports of 'extended' Iran blockade44 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNaomi Rainey,Emer MoreauandJonathan Josephs,Business reportersGetty ImagesCrude oil is a key ingredient in petrol and dieselOil prices have soared following reports that the US is preparing for an 'extended' blockade of Iran.
Brent crude briefly hit $119 (£88) a barrel on Wednesday evening, the highest price so far this month and a rise of nearly 7% in one day.
The BBC understands that energy executives including Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth met President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss how to limit the fallout from the conflict on American consumers.
Oil traders appear to have taken the meeting as a sign the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz will continue for a prolonged period of time.
The meeting follows separate reports from the Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump has instructed aides to prepare ..

World

New images show suspect taking selfies before Washington press dinner shooting

New images show suspect taking selfies before Washington press dinner shooting56 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMadeline HalpertWatch: 'Are they gunshots?' BBC correspondent's minute-by-minute account of dinner shootingNew images included in a memorandum filed by the US government show Cole Tomas Allen – the man accused of opening fire at a White House Correspondents' dinner last weekend – with weapons in a hotel room before the attack.
Prosecutors submitted the photos along with new details of the suspect's activities before the 25 April incident in their motion to keep Allen detained pending trial.
The 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors say the photos show Allen in his hotel room posing in front of a mirror with several weapons strapped to his body, including a sheathed knife, and a bag with ammunition.
Department of JusticeAllen is accused of carryi..

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Trump cracks awkward marriage joke to Melania with King Charles watching after Jimmy Kimmel ‘widow’ uproar

Days after calling for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to lose his job after mocking the near quarter-century age gap between President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, the president used the same subject matter as fodder for a joke in his speech welcoming King Charles III to the White House on Tuesday.
Trump was working his way through meandering remarks at the end of a formal arrival ceremony on the South Lawn when he segued from meditating on the deep friendship that has developed between the U.S. and U.K. over the 250 years since American independence to his Scottish-born mother, Mary McLeod Trump’s admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.
As Trump noted how his mother had emigrated from Scotland to the U.S. at age 19 and entered into what would be a 63-year marriage with his father, he turned back to the first lady, who was seated with Queen Camilla behind him.
“That's a record we won't be able to match, darling,” he said wistfully.
“I'm sorry, it’s just not goi..

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89 year-old mass shooting suspect ‘opened fire in social security office after losing pension case’

An 89-year-old man suspected of rampaging through Athens with a shotgun has been arrested, more than 200km away from the mass shooting, and following a major manhunt.
The pensioner, identified locally as a garbage collector from the Athens area, was picked up by police in Patra around 4.30pm local time, some six hours after the first reports of an attack on a social security office in the city.
He was arrested carrying a loaded .38 revolver at a hotel this afternoon, after fleeing the capital, local media reported. Police are yet to confirm a motive, but local reports say the suspect had lost a court case regarding the awarding of his pension, citing unnamed sources.
The gunman initially opened fire at a branch of the National Social Security Fund (EFKA) in Kato Petralona on Tuesday morning, wounding an employee in the leg, police said.
Alexandros Varveris, head of EFKA, later said the gunman had gone to the fourth floor of the social security fund’s offices in the Kerameikos area of c..

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Suspect charged with attempted assassination of Trump at Washington dinner

Suspect charged with attempted assassination of Trump at Washington dinner 16 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleShaimaa Khalil and Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu,in court in Washington DCandRegan Morris,in Torrance, CaliforniaA shotgun, a handgun and three knives: Inside Washington gunman’s court appearanceA California man has been charged with attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump after trying to storm a gala event with weapons on Saturday night.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was also charged with two firearms offences when he appeared in court in Washington DC on Monday. He did not enter a plea.
He was carrying a semi-automatic handgun, a pump-action shotgun and three knives as he charged past a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday, say prosecutors. The incident has sparked a White House security review.
A Secret Service agent was shot but not seriously wounded during the attack at a hotel. The accused faces life in prison i..

World

US political violence generates a familiar cycle – this time it’s in overdrive

US political violence generates a familiar cycle – this time it's in overdrive17 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAnthony ZurcherNorth America correspondentTrump: How shooting at White House correspondents' dinner unfoldedFor many in the ballroom at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday night, the scene was painfully familiar. Shots fired, confusion and panic, and a sense that the normal order of things had been violently interrupted.
Erika Kirk, whose husband, the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed last September, was in tears. Congressman Steve Scalise, majority leader in the House of Representatives who suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting at a baseball practice with Republican teammates in 2017, was escorted out by security.
So was Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who lost his father and uncle to assassin's bullets.
Many journalists in attendance had been at the 2024 rally in Butler, Penn..

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Trump admin’s proposed new gun rule will make it harder for trans people to buy firearms

The Trump administration’s proposed new rules on gun ownership are intended to scare transgender people out of buying weapons, leading pro-Second Amendment activists say.
A new rule enacted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would mean all new gun owners must list their birth sex on mandatory purchase paperwork, even if they have legally or medically changed genders.
Such a rule would make it easier for ATF to gather lists of trans gun owners, simply by identifying where names appear to conflict with the listed sex,according to firearms policy experts.
It could also deter trans people from buying guns legally, since complying with paperwork would create a “Catch 22” situation — and a false statement comes with the threat of federal charges and prison time, the experts said.
“Just the announcement is going to have a chilling effect,” Patrick G. Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute, told The Independent.
op..