Trump hails 'historic' deal to control 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil

As with its approach to Hormuz, the US has mistaken applying pressure for an actual strategy. But Tehran has chips of its own to play Donald Trump has found a new way to promise victory over Iran. After months of war have failed to force Iran’s capitulation or collapse, his administration has unveiled what the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, calls Operation Economic Outcast: an effort to cut it off from what remains of the global economy and threaten foreign governments, banks and companies with sanctions if they continue doing business with Tehran. There is no question that Iran is vulnerable. Its economy has been battered by years of sanctions, war and a months-long US naval blockade. Iranian officials acknowledge that oil exports and access to foreign currency have been severely constrained. Ordinary Iranians are already enduring high inflation, currency depreciation and worsening living standards. Further economic strangulation will inflict significant additional hardship. Sina Toossi is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, where his work focuses on US-Iran relations, US policy toward the Middle East and nuclear issues..

Critics say changes by CMA will allow multinationals to obscure their ownership of vet practices Pet owners have been warned that they could be unknowingly ripped off by private equity firms who have bought local vet clinics, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) removed requirements for multinational companies to disclose which practices they own. The CMA recently ran an investigation into the monopolisation of vet practices, and found that the lack of competition and transparency of ownership had led to high prices and a lack of information for customers. Pet owners were often unaware their local vet practice could be owned by an international private equity company...

Impersonation scams – where callers or texts claim to be from trusted entities such as banks, HMRC or even the police – are rife … and growing ‘I’ve £80k in the account, here’s my pin’: turning the tables on scammers Your phone pings and it’s a message from your bank about a new payment being set up on your account. If you do not recognise the transaction, it says, you should get in touch. There’s a number for you to call. The person on the other end of the line tells you that your account has been compromised by scammers. They need details from you so they can help protect your money. Before you know it, they are giving you details of a safe account to transfer your savings to, or asking you to hand over your debit card so it can be replaced...