IEA to consider release of more oil reserves as Iran war keeps prices high
The world’s energy watchdog will consider releasing further emergency crude stocks into the global market to cool rising oil prices after warning that it will take time for markets to recover from the ongoing crisis in the strait of Hormuz.Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said its members continued to hold large reserves of emergency oil stocks even after agreeing to the biggest release of government crude in the history of the market, meaning more emergency oil reserves could still be released “as and if needed”.It came as the price of Brent crude rose almost 3% within minutes of the market opening on Monday, to about $106.50 a barrel.It later dipped by about 2%, but was still trading at just above $100 a barrel.
About 100m barrels of emergency oil stockpiles will be made available to buyers in Asia this week in the first release from a planned 400m barrel deluge of crude into the global market to make up for the lost exports from Gulf nations, which has caused global oil prices to surge by 40% this month,“Despite this huge release, we still have a lot of stocks left,” Birol said,“This current stock release, once it is completed, will reduce the emergency stocks in IEA countries only by about 20%,”Birol warned that although the emergency reserves would provide a buffer for now, it was vital to reopen the strait of Hormuz to allow Gulf oil and gas to reach the global market,Donald Trump on Monday repeated his call to global leaders to help unblock the strait of Hormuz, which before the crisis transported a fifth of the world’s seaborne crude from the world’s biggest producers to the international buyers.
“Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t,” Trump told reporters.“Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years.We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic.And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”The US retaliated to Iran’s effective blockade on the vital oil trade route with the weekend attack on Kharg Island, which is home to the infrastructure which exports about 90% of the Middle Eastern country’s crude.
Although the US military did not damage the oil hub, the attack raised further concerns over the Gulf’s crude production, which is falling as producers are forced to shut their oilfields.Birol said global governments should be prepared for if the conflict continues for a while longer, and warned that global energy trade would take some time to recover even after the conflict ends.
Rachel Reeves to call for rapid AI adoption and deeper ties with EU to boost growth – business live
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.While the UK economy is being buffeted by the energy shock from the Iran war, chancellor Rachel Reeves is hoping that rapid take-up of artificial intelligence and deeper ties with the European Union can deliver growth.Reeves is due to deliver a big set piece speech in London today – the Mais Lecture, at Bayes Business School. And she’s expected to identify innovation and AI, closer ties with Europe, and regional growth as three big opportunities for economic growth in the UK.The annual Mais Lecture is a set-piece event for central bank governors, chancellors and prime ministers to set out their economic philosophy
Starbucks shareholders push to oust board members over stalled union talks
Starbucks shareholders are pushing to remove two board members at the company who they argue have contributed to stalling the coffee chain’s long-fought-over union drive.The SOC Investment Group, Trillium Asset Management, Merseyside Pension Fund, the non-profit Shareholder Association for Research and Education (Share), and the New York state and New York City comptrollers wrote a letter to Starbucks shareholders to vote “no” on the re-election of board members Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and Beth Ford at Starbucks’s annual shareholders meeting on 25 March.More than 680 Starbucks stores have voted to form unions since the barista-led organizing campaign started in 2021. The union has reached 34 tentative agreements with Starbucks, but the company has not reached a single final agreement.Starbucks workers began an unfair labor practice strike at the coffee chain in November 2025, escalating up to the holidays in December 2025 with several thousand workers on strike
UK must learn lessons from AI race and retain its quantum computing talent, says minister
The UK will not let quantum computing talent slip through its fingers and must learn lessons from US dominance of the AI race, the technology secretary has said, as the government announced a £1bn quantum funding pledge.Liz Kendall said the government hoped to retain homegrown quantum startups, engineers and researchers rather than lose them to competing countries, with the US stealing a march on its western rivals in AI.“I do look at what’s happened on AI,” said Kendall. “I do think we need to learn the lessons and make sure we give our brilliant scientists, spinouts and startups the ability to stay here and make it happen. And that requires a government that is bold and ambitious and confident in these technologies of the future
Child abuse material ‘systemic’ on Elon Musk’s X amid Grok scandal, Australian online safety regulator warned
The Australian online safety regulator warned Elon Musk’s X amid the Grok sexualised image generation scandal that it found child abuse material was “particularly systemic” on X and more accessible than on “any other mainstream service”, correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia reveals.The eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its chatbot, Grok, was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online, which the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described as “abhorrent”.In the letter, obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, eSafety’s general manager of regulatory operations, Heidi Snell, pointed to Musk’s promise when taking over the platform in 2022 that “removing child exploitation is priority #1”, but said “the availability of CSEM [child sexual exploitation material] continues to appear particularly systemic on X”.“eSafety has not identified CSEM to be as readily accessible on any other mainstream service,” Snell said.eSafety had found that while action by X to tackle bot accounts in October 2025 had reduced use of some previously commonly used hashtags and terms to advertise CSEM, eSafety found hashtags to advertise the material still prevalent
The Breakdown | From Ramos to Carré: selecting the best XV of the 2026 Six Nations
The champions France lead with five players but every side is represented in pick from a tournament to savour15. Thomas Ramos FrancePlays like the lovechild of Mike Brown and Thomas Castaignède with Jonny Wilkinson levels of marksmanship thrown in. There was never any doubt he would nail that decisive final winning penalty in Paris, just as he did against England in Lyon two years ago. The 30-year-old is the first player to be the top points-scorer in four successive championships and now tops France’s all-time list.14
‘Everyone in Nashville is a Vandy fan’: how Shea Ralph sparked a women’s basketball revival in Music City
Shea Ralph’s decision to storm the court during the fourth quarter of Vanderbilt’s quarter-final against Ole Miss last Friday at the SEC Tournament wasn’t premeditated. Ralph, who up to that moment had never been thrown out of a game in her lengthy career, just did what she thought was right in arguing a questionable foul call.“I wasn’t trying to get kicked out,” Ralph told reporters after the game. “I know where I was on the court. But I also think that at that time what I said was warranted, and the action I took was warranted
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