British inflation jumped unexpectedly to an 18-month high in June, official data showed Wednesday, heaping more pressure on the government and the UK economy.
The Consumer Prices Index increased to 3.6 per cent last month compared with an annual inflation rate of 3.4 per cent in May as motor fuel and food prices stayed high, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
June’s level was the highest since January 2024, according to the ONS, while most analysts had forecast no change.
The inflation update follows recent official data showing Britain’s economy unexpectedly contracted for a second month running in May, placing more strain on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the UK government as it faces uncertainty caused by US tariffs.
“Inflation ticked up in June driven mainly by motor fuel prices which fell only slightly, compared with a much larger decrease at this time last year,” ONS acting chief economist Richard Heys said in a statement.
“Food price inflation has increased for the third month to its highest annual rate since February 2024,” he added.
In response, finance minister Rachel Reeves said “there is more to do” to help Britons “struggling with the cost of living”.
Analysts said that despite the rise in inflation, the Bank of England could still cut its key interest rate next month as the UK economy struggles to expand.
“The unexpected rise in CPI inflation… may not prevent the Bank of England from cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in August,” said Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group.
“But it will add to the pressure on the Bank to continue to cut rates at a gradual pace,” she added.
An American who spied on Ukrainian troops to help Moscow’s military offensive in the country has been granted Russian citizenship, Moscow-installed authorities said Tuesday.
Daniel Martindale spent two years in Ukraine after Russia launched its offensive, transmitting coordinates of military facilities to Russia’s secret services, according to reports in Russian state media.
“By decree of our President Vladimir Putin, a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation was awarded to Daniel Martindale,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Telegram.
Pushilin said that Martindale had “long since proven with his loyalty and actions that he is one of us.”
“He spent more than two years in the territory under enemy control. And not only did he survive — he helped. He supported our guys, passed on important information to our special services, risked his life,” he added.
Martindale received his passport from interior ministry officials at a ceremony in Moscow, according to state media and a video published by Pushilin.
Martindale thanked Russia for “accepting me”, and said becoming a Russian citizen was a “dream”.
“Russia is not only my home, but my family,” he said in Russian on the video.
After two years spying on Ukraine, he was extracted in “a complex evacuation operation” after Moscow started to fear his life was in danger if he stayed any longer, Pushilin said.
In November 2024, state media reported Russian security forces had taken him to Russia and Martindale lodged his application for Russian citizenship.
A Telegram account purporting to be his posted that same month: “Hello, I’m Daniel Martindale, the guy that Russian soldiers risked their lives to evacuate from the village where I had lived for two years.”
The Katsina State Government has declared Monday, July 14, 2025, as a work-free day to honour the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died in London on Sunday.
The declaration was made in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Abdullahi Garba Faskari, on Sunday evening.
Faskari said the work-free day would enable workers and residents to mourn the passing of the former president, who hailed from the state.
The statement read, “The Governor of Katsina State, His Excellency, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, PhD, CON, has declared Monday, 14th July 2025, as a work-free day in the State. This follows the demise of Nigeria’s former President, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who died earlier this evening of today (13h July 2025) in London.
“He noted that the holiday is intended to enable workers and residents of the State to join the rest of the country in mourning the loss and offering prayers for the late leader.
“Governor Radda expressed profound condolences to the family of the late President, the people of the State, and the entire nation, describing President Muhammadu Buhari as a great leader, a hero, a true democrat and a patriotic elder statesman whose life was dedicated to the service of Nigeria.”
He prayed for Allah’s mercy on Buhari’s soul and for his admittance into Aljannatul Firdaus.
The statement added that details regarding the burial arrangements would be communicated in due course.
Buhari, who hails from Katsina State, died on Sunday at the age of 83.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children, near a water distribution point.
The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, “including women and children” and wounding others.
An Israeli air strike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in “10 martyrs and several injured”, Bassal said.
In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone “hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people” in the Nuseirat camp, he added.
Several other people were wounded, he said.
In the territory’s south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defence spokesman.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 “Hamas terror targets” around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
A farm worker died on Friday after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California that resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants and clashes with protestors.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “slimeballs” and said they should be arrested.
In another development, a district judge ordered a halt to “roving patrols” in Los Angeles by federal agents who were detaining suspected undocumented migrants without probable cause and denying them due process.
District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered an end to the arrests, which she said were being made “based upon race alone,” on whether a person was speaking Spanish or English with an accent or because of their place of work and ordered them stopped.
Trump’s remarks and the court order come a day after a chaotic raid on a cannabis plantation in Ventura County some 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles, left one farm worker critically injured.
The United Farm Workers labour union said in a post on X on Friday that the worker had “died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday’s immigration enforcement action.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said the man who died was never in custody.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet (10 meters),” McLaughlin said. “(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
The DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday, and 10 children were rescued “from potential exploitation, forced labour, and human trafficking.”
Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has “never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.”
DHS said more than 500 “rioters” had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers.
Tear gas was used against the protestors, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles.
The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing “tremendous damage.”
Trump said he was authorising law enforcement officers who are “on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.”
“I am giving Total Authorisation for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” he said.
Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport millions of migrants, has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks.
The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against roundups of undocumented migrants by federal agents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.
The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks.
“We’ve been here since six this morning asking questions but they’re not giving us any information,” said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday.
“I just want to know how he’s doing,” Munoz said. “Bring him back to me and if it’s time for us to leave, we’ll leave.
“The truth is the American dream is no longer the American dream.”
Bangladesh’s caretaker government has overturned a long-standing protocol requiring women officials to be addressed as “sir”, calling it an “odd” relic of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
The interim administration, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, took office last year after former prime minister Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising, forcing her to flee to neighbouring India.
A statement issued by the press wing of the caretaker government late Thursday said the directive mandating the use of “sir” for women in official roles had been “annulled”.
“During Sheikh Hasina’s nearly 16-year-long autocratic rule, a directive was reportedly issued requiring public officials to address her as ‘sir’,” it said.
“This practice extended to other high-ranking women officials, who were – and still are – being called ‘sir’, which is clearly odd.”
A new committee has been formed to revise other protocol-related directives, the statement added.
A woman bureaucrat told AFP that the caretaker government took the call without consulting women officials.
“The tradition began during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure, but many women officers supported it, finding the address gender-neutral,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hasina, 77, who has defied orders to return to Dhaka, faces several charges at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for alleged crimes committed during a crackdown on the protests that led to her toppling.
Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations.
Prosecutors say that Hasina held overall command responsibility for the violence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that it will open its portal for online Continuous Voter Registration in Akwa Ibom State on August 18, 2025, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Obo Effanga, made this known on Wednesday during his maiden media briefing at the INEC state headquarters in Uyo.
Effanga said, “In the next couple of weeks, INEC will start again the process of the Continuous Voter Registration. Starting on the 18th of August, we will have the opportunity for people to do the online pre registration of processes.
“Now this is not going to be different from what we did prior to 2023. You know that INEC has created a portal where members of the public who want to register to vote can process, go online, start the process and then only come to us physically for the capture of the photographs and fingerprints for the registration process to be completed.”
He added that voters who wish to transfer their registration from one location to another, correct errors in their data, or request changes to their voter cards can also use the online platform.
“For those who didn’t collect their cards prior to now, and if there’s any correction they want done to the card, they can do that. But from the 18th, people who have access to the Internet can do the transfer.
“People also want to migrate from one polling unit to another, you can do that through the Internet or you come to us physically from the 25th,” he added.
He explained that physical registration would take place at INEC local government offices across the state from August 25, and urged those who complete the online process to visit the offices for biometric capture to finalise their registration.
He called on those who started the online registration process to come to the state office or local government office headquarters for fingerprints and photographs capturing to complete the registration process.
He explained that the exercise would give room for those who want to effect some corrections or changes on their cards, do card transfers or did not collect their PVCs to have their concerns addressed.
Effanga, however, cautioned against multiple registrations, noting that in case of card loss, the person should go for reprinting of the card in the office, as any attempt to register again would invalidate the whole process.
The United Arab Emirates has imposed tougher entry conditions for Nigerian travellers and banned transit visa applications entirely.
Travel agents confirmed on Tuesday.
According to new directives from Dubai immigration, Nigerians aged 18 to 45 will no longer be eligible for tourist visas unless accompanied.
For those aged 45 and above, visa applicants must present a personal six-month bank statement showing a minimum monthly balance of $10,000 (or its naira equivalent).
Travel agents said the new policy is expected to drastically reduce travel from Nigeria to Dubai, a top destination for business and tourism.
“For Nigerian nationals, please bear in mind that an applicant aged 18 to 45 years travelling alone is not eligible for the TOURIST VISA CATEGORY.
“An applicant who is 45 years or above must provide a Single Nigerian personal bank statement for a period of the last six months, with each month’s end balance reflecting a minimum ending balance of USD 10,000 or its naira equivalent.
“Kindly note that the above points must be taken into consideration before sending your applications with other existing documents such as hotel reservation, data page, etc,” the notification reads.
Indian villagers beat a family of five to death and dumped their corpses in a lake， accusing them of “practising witchcraft” after the death of a boy, police said Tuesday.
Three people have been arrested and have confessed to the crime, police in the northern state of Bihar said in a statement.
Three women — including a 75-year-old — were among those murdered.
The main accused believed that his son’s recent death was caused by one of those killed, and blamed “him and his family of practising witchcraft”, the statement said.
“After beating the victims to death, the perpetrators loaded the bodies onto a tractor and dumped them in a pond,” police said.
The murderers and victims all belonged to India’s Oraon tribe in Bihar, India’s poorest state and a mainly Hindu region of at least 130 million people.
Despite campaigns against superstition, belief in witchcraft remains widespread in rural areas across India, especially in isolated tribal communities.
Some states, including Bihar, have introduced laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft and superstition.
Women have often been branded witches and targeted, but the killing of the family of five stands out as a particularly heinous recent example.
More than 1,500 people — the overwhelming majority of them women — were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Some believe in the occult, but attackers also sometimes have other motives including usurping their rights over land and property.
