Oil price expected to surge following Iran strikes and strait of Hormuz closure

The price of oil is expected to soar on Monday as the US-Israel war on Iran and effective closure of the crucial strait of Hormuz rattles investors despite major producers’ pledges to increase their output.US crude is on track to rise by 9% when trading resumes, according to data from the broker IG.The jump comes as Opec+, the cartel of oil producers, agreed on Sunday to step up their output by more than expected as they assessed the impact of the conflict.Iran reportedly told ships on Saturday that passage through the strait of Hormuz was prohibited, effectively shutting the key choke point and prompting the halt of some oil shipments.About $500bn (£372bn) of energy trade and 20% of global oil supplies pass through the strait each year

Trump’s Iran strikes accelerate the world’s drift from dollar dominance | Heather Stewart

Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, with its puerile Pentagon nametag Operation Epic Fury, is another show of violent force from a bullish administration.Aside from unleashing fresh instability across the Middle East, the strikes add to the sense of a US operating with little regard for international law or global norms – as with Trump’s on-off tariff regime, and the attack on Venezuela.In the financial sphere, that is only likely to add weight to an incremental but historic shift away from the global dominance of the US currency and towards a more complex world that may be less to Washington’s liking.The trade-weighted dollar, measured against a basket of global currencies, has lost 7% of its value over the past year despite strong US economic growth and soaring stock prices on Wall Street. That partly reflects the outlook for inflation, and therefore interest rates, but also perhaps a more nebulous sense that the US policy framework is not as solid and predictable as it may once have been

OpenAI announces $110bn funding round that would value firm at $840bn

OpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110bn in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840bn, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence.It’s more than double the amount the company raised last year, when it racked up $40bn in the largest private tech deal on record.This year’s funding round, which is still open, includes a $30bn investment from SoftBank, $30bn from Nvidia, and $50bn from Amazon, and comes ahead of the AI startup’s expected mega-IPO later this year. Even more investors are expected to join.“We’re super excited about this deal,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Friday

Instagram to alert parents if teens repeatedly search self-harm terms

Instagram will start alerting parents if their kids repeatedly search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm.The announcement on Thursday comes as Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is in the midst of two trials over harms to children.A trial under way in Los Angeles questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm minors. Another in New Mexico seeks to determine whether Meta failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its platforms.The alerts will only go to parents who are enrolled in Instagram’s parental supervision program

Australia hammer India by 185 runs in third women’s one-day cricket international – as it happened

That’s it from us. We’ll have over-by-over coverage of the full women’s Test between Australia and India from the Western Australian Cricket Association ground for four days from March 6. Later, potaters.It was a day almost all about Alyssa Healy. Yes, she will play in and captain in a Test match to end this series, but the bulk of her career, as it is for women’s international cricket, has been about the shorter formats

The ultimate breakdown: everything you need to know about F1’s new regulations for 2026

In a week’s time, a new era will begin in Formula One as a major shift in regulations brings with it an air of unpredictability when the Australian Grand Prix gets under way in Melbourne.The cars have been made smaller and lighter with the intent of making them more nimble and better to drive, and to facilitate improved racing. The wheelbase has been reduced by 20cm to 340cm and the width by 10cm to 190cm. Across changes in the chassis and to the engine, the overall weight has been reduced by 30kg. Drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have declared themselves generally pleased with the improved handling characteristics of their more sprightly rides, which will operate with approximately 40% less drag, but they will not enjoy the same downforce or pace as with last year’s models and are expected to open the season a second or two slower per lap than last year