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US and UAE report Iran attacks as military pushes to reopen Strait of Hormuz
The US military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The United Arab Emirates, a key American ally, said it had come under attack from Iran for the first time since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April. The US military said two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of a new initiative. The UAE Defence Ministry said its air defences had engaged 15 missiles and four drones fired by Iran. Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said one drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE. Tehran did not outright confirm or deny the attacks but early on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that both the US and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire". France 24, May 5

Ukraine to observe ceasefire as Russia prepares to mark Victory Day
President Zelensky has said Ukraine will observe a ceasefire from midnight on Tuesday after Russia threatened to launch a “massive” missile strike on Kyiv if it attacked the Victory Day parade in Moscow. President Putin had previously said that Russia would call off its own guns from May 8 to 9 in honour of the anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany. Zelensky did not say how long the ceasefire would last but indicated that Kyiv would also observe Russia’s May 8-9 suspension of hostilities. The Times, May 4

HSBC profits hit by $400mn exposure to collapsed mortgage lender MFS
HSBC has taken a $400mn “fraud-related” charge tied to collapsed UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions, hitting quarterly profits at Europe’s biggest bank and sending its shares down more than 5 per cent. The bank said on Tuesday that it had “indirect exposure” through a financial sponsor. The exposure was linked to MFS, which collapsed amid fraud allegations this year, people familiar with the matter told the FT. “We have an exposure to a financial sponsor who has an exposure to the company,” HSBC chief financial officer Pam Kaur said on a media call, adding that the financial sponsor involved was a private equity firm. The disclosure marks the widening fallout from MFS’s demise after Barclays took a £228mn hit last week. HSBC said it had booked total expected credit losses of $1.3bn for the first quarter, up 50 per cent from a year earlier. The bank also blamed the Middle East war for a drop in first-quarter profits, setting aside $300mn to cover impairments tied to the conflict. Financial Times, May 5

OpenAI president defends motives in for-profit restructuring as he reveals $30bn stake
OpenAI president Greg Brockman in court on Monday was forced to defend diary entries that appeared to show he was preoccupied by money during talks to convert the AI lab into a for-profit, as he revealed his personal stake was now worth almost $30bn. Brockman told the jury the comments were born of “frustration” with co-founder Elon Musk during a tussle for control of OpenAI in 2017. He argued his nearly $30bn stake was justified by the “blood, sweat and tears” he and chief executive Sam Altman expended to grow the start-up to a valuation of $852bn, which in turn has endowed its non-profit arm with more than $150bn in resources. Musk’s lawsuit argues he was tricked into donating money to help launch OpenAI and seeks to unwind its restructuring as a for-profit and oust Brockman and Altman. It threatens to upend OpenAI’s ambitions for a trillion-dollar initial public offering. Financial Times, May 4

Poverty and technology leading to record levels of slavery in UK
The rising cost of living and new technology are leading to record levels of exploitation in the UK, the independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned. Over 23,000 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the monitoring group in 2025, a 22 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest number ever recorded. A report published on Monday has warned that people trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation will become harder to detect in the coming years unless urgent action is taken against criminal networks. More than a fifth of potential victims in 2025 were from the UK, the largest single group. Eritrean nationals (13 per cent) were the second-largest group, followed by Vietnamese nationals (9 per cent). The report comes more than 10 years after the Modern Slavery Act came into force and draws together evidence from more than 50 organisations to analyse how exploitation may evolve. It points to three main factors driving a rise: rising living costs, debt and insecure work. BBC news, May 5

US to help ships stranded in Strait of Hormuz as tanker hit by projectiles
A tanker reported being hit by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime security organisation said on Monday, shortly after President Donald Trump said the US would start helping free ships stranded in the Gulf by the US-Israeli war on Iran. Trump provided few details about the plan, which he said would start on Monday to aid ships and their crews that have been "locked up" in the vital waterway and are running low on food and other supplies. "We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site. Hundreds of ships and as many as 20,000 seafarers have been unable to transit the strait during the conflict, according to the International Maritime Organization. US Central Command said it would support the effort with 15,000 US military personnel, more than 100 land and sea-based aircraft along with warships and drones. The operation aims to "restore freedom of navigation for commercial shipping" through the strait, CENTCOM said in a statement. France 24, May 4

Airlines slash flights as fuel shortage fears mount
Global airlines have cut 2mn seats from their May schedules within the past two weeks, as concerns about fuel availability in the coming weeks intensify. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and several services have switched to smaller or more fuel-efficient aircraft to conserve fuel as they brace for supply disruption, according to data from analytics company Cirium. Since the start of the Iran war in late February, the cost of jet fuel has doubled, forcing airlines to raise ticket prices, while the closure of Gulf airports that connected a third of European journeys to Asia has thrown global travel into disarray. Gulf carriers including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar - whose flights are still recovering after halting in the early weeks of the conflict - have redrawn their May schedules, including cancelling flights, Cirium data shows. The total number of seats available on all airlines during May has fallen from 132mn to 130mn between mid and late April, according to the figures. Financial Times, May 4

UK and EU to start formal talks on Ukraine loan scheme
Britain will begin formal talks on participating in an EU-led €90bn loan scheme to Ukraine on Monday, as London and Brussels seek closer alignment on defence in the face of US President Donald Trump’s security threats. Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will discuss the loan to Kyiv, steel industry co-operation, youth mobility and a start-up financing initiative in Yerevan, said people briefed on the preparations. The UK prime minister said ahead of the meeting, to be held on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia, that when London and Brussels worked together “we all reap the benefits”. In volatile times “we need to go further and faster on defence to keep people safe”, he said, adding that the talks on the loan initiative would aim “to ensure Ukraine gets the equipment it needs to defend its freedom, while driving opportunities for British industry to play its full part”. Financial Times, May 3

Brussels tells Keir Starmer to pay £1bn for closer ties to Europe
Brussels has told Sir Keir Starmer that Britain will have to make annual payments into European budgets for the first time since Brexit, as part of the prime minister’s reset with the bloc. European negotiators have made it clear that paying the cash, expected to amount to about £1 billion a year, is a condition of further access to the EU’s single market. They want Starmer to make the concession in principle at a summit between the prime minister and European leaders this summer before detailed negotiations on more integration. “If the UK wants further integration they must ‘pay to play’,” one European diplomat said. “That is not unusual.” Starmer will hold talks with EU leaders on Monday at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, where he is expected to discuss plans for the reset. The Times, May 3

NHS cancer jab could save patients hours in hospital
A new injectable form of a key cancer drug could see thousands of NHS patients across the UK spending far less time in hospital. Keytruda, which is already used to treat multiple cancers, is a type of immunotherapy that helps the body's own immune system attack cancer cells. Since 2015, NHS patients have received the world's best-selling drug through a drip - or intravenous infusion - which can take more than an hour to administer in hospital. NHS England says the new injection should cut that procedure to just a couple of minutes, saving patients and staff valuable time. BBC news, May 4