Daily Digest — 26 Jul 2026

A new front in the US-Iran standoff opened today as Houthi forces fired at Saudi oil facilities, while the conflict spread to the Caspian Sea after Tehran accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian vessel. The US military also released footage of forces boarding a tanker accused of breaking the Iran blockade. Despite these tensions, crude oil fell 3.1% to $⁠89.31, likely on demand concerns; gold and silver rose 0.5% and 1.5% respectively as safe-haven buying persisted. Crypto markets edged higher, with Bitcoin up 0.5% and Ethereum up 1.3%.

In the UK, Labour’s Andy Burnham ruled out an early election and told the BBC he is prepared to call out Donald Trump “if right for Britain”, while police are investigating two £250,000 donations to Reform UK by a company owned by deputy leader Richard Tice. The Home Office also faced criticism after rejecting a Palestinian Jerusalemite woman’s visa while approving her husband’s. In Tunisia, thousands marked five years of emergency rule with calls for President Saied to go.

Tech layoffs continue to be blamed on AI, with Monday.com the latest to join a growing list. Meanwhile, Russia’s largest bank Sberbank plans to build crypto trading infrastructure by December as new regulations take effect in September, and North Korea has arrested hackers accused of laundering stolen funds via crypto. An opinion piece suggests tokenizing weather derivatives could be crypto’s most important real-world use case.