Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav in line for $700m payout from Paramount deal 17. March 2026 (14:46) One of the best-paid executives in Hollywood has already made $113m after selling shares in WBD this monthBusiness live – latest updatesDavid Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros Discovery, is in line for a $700m (£525m) payday from the $110bn sale of the Hollywood studio to Paramount Skydance.Zaslav could receive $34.2m in cash severance payments, $115.8m in vested stock and $517.2m in unvested share awards once the deal is complete, according to a filing from Warner Bros Discovery on Monday. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Kent students to be offered targeted meningitis jabs after two more cases 17. March 2026 (14:41) Vaccination programme to be launched on Canterbury campus as strain B of disease identified in fatal outbreakStudents in Kent are to be offered a targeted vaccination against meningitis after two more cases in the deadly outbreak were confirmed.Government scientists have said two people who died in the outbreak had bacterial strain B of the disease, for which most people have not been vaccinated. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump administration to slash fee to renounce US citizenship from $2,350 to $450 17. March 2026 (14:22) White House will take a financial loss to make it easier for Americans to walk away from citizenship starting in AprilThe Trump administration has agreed to take a financial loss in order to make it easier for Americans to walk away from their US citizenship.In April, the cost to formally renounce citizenship will plunge from $2,350 to just $450, below the actual cost to the government of processing the requests – but fulfilling a years-long promise to reverse an unpopular fee adopted in 2015. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach 17. March 2026 (14:20) Exclusive: Jonathan Powell thought Tehran’s ‘surprising’ offer on its nuclear programme could prevent rush to warMiddle East crisis – live updatesBritain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
How Pakistan’s people-led solar boom is easing impact of Middle East energy crisis 17. March 2026 (14:00) Falling costs and government incentives made solar an attractive option for many, which has reduced need for gasAfter prices of liquefied natural gas surged to record highs following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, millions of people in Pakistan were repeatedly left without electricity. An intense heatwave and gas shortages amid record-breaking prices resulted in power cuts across the country.But people soon started to realise there was an alternative. The falling costs of solar panels and generous government incentives to feed excess power back to the grid made rooftop solar an attractive option. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
First Thing: Israel says Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani killed in airstrike 17. March 2026 (12:32) It would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to be killed in the war since Ali Khamenei. Plus, Oakland homicides down 48% from Covid peakDon’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Israel says it killed Iran’s national security chief, Ali Larijani, in overnight strikes. If the claim is confirmed, it would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to die in the war since the supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on its first day.How significant could Larijani’s death be? Very. If confirmed, it would remove a pivotal figure at the center of the regime’s political and security establishment at a time of acute crisis.What’s happening to oil prices? Oil and gas prices have risen again after Iran successfully attacked production facilities for the first time since the start of the war. Brent crude reached $103.2 a barrel on Tuesday.Read our live coverage here. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
At least 23 people killed in suspected suicide attacks in north-eastern Nigeria 17. March 2026 (12:28) More than 100 others injured in bombings targeting post office, market areas and hospital in MaiduguriAt least 23 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in multiple suspected suicide bombings in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, shattering its reputation as a relative oasis of calm in recent years as a long-running insurgency was pushed to the rural hinterlands.Authorities said the explosions went off at the post office and market areas, as well as the entrance to the University of Maiduguri teaching hospital, on Monday evening during iftar, the breaking of fast in the month of Ramadan. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘These connections are overlooked’: how British companies profited from slavery in Brazil long after abolition 17. March 2026 (12:00) Britons learn about the country’s involvement ‘almost as a self-congratulatory narrative’, says historian Joseph Mulhern In 1845 British citizens and companies were already legally prohibited from owning or buying enslaved people overseas, yet that year 385 captives were “transferred” to a British mining company in Brazil named St John d’El Rey.Despite a global campaign waged by the UK against slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the move was not technically illegal because the enslaved people were not sold but “rented” – a practice permitted overseas under the 1843 Slave Trade Act. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Starbucks shareholders push to oust board members over stalled union talks 17. March 2026 (12:00) Board members Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and Beth Ford face scrutiny for the coffee chain’s ongoing labor dispute 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. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Pressure grows to postpone king’s state visit to US amid Iran war and Trump’s jibes at allies – UK politics live 17. March 2026 (11:45) Emily Thornberry is the latest figure to call on the king’s visit to the US to be delayed, citing the ongoing war against IranDowning Street has announced a new defence partnership with Ukraine as President Zelenskyy is visiting London today.In its news release, it says:The UK and Ukraine are set to agree a new world-leading partnership to boost global defensive capability against the the proliferation of low cost, high tech military hardware, including drones …As part of the agreement, the UK and Ukraine will also look at opportunities for increased defence industrial and technological cooperation with third countries, boosting international security and ensuring the latest defence technology is in the hands of those who need it most. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
