A leadership handover in London, veto arithmetic in Brussels, and a Gulf war cooling even as four states harden their deterrence — the day in six stories.

Britain's handover

  • Andy Burnham makes Volodymyr Zelensky the first foreign leader he hosts as prime minister, restating UK backing for Kyiv as Russian strikes set off fires across the capital and a day before Zelensky travels to see Trump. more
  • Burnham signals deeper engagement with the EU as the government rethinks its post-Brexit relationship — expressed intent, not yet named policy. more

Brussels and the unanimity trap

  • The EU weighs replacing large sanctions packages with smaller, targeted tranches after Greece won LNG and tourism carve-outs to clear the 21st package; unanimity among 27 still leaves nothing veto-proof. more
  • The Commission reworks its levy on firms with turnover above €100 million — a new 'own resource' that needs a unanimous Council vote and ratification by all 27 — to unblock the next seven-year budget. more

War, markets and deterrence

  • Mediators report real progress toward halting the Iran war; oil slumps and the dollar eases as the war-risk premium starts to come off fuel and heating bills, though Tehran still claims the Strait of Hormuz and rejects talks. more
  • In one week Pakistan puts all nuclear weapons under a single command, Iran shifts to 'active deterrence', Japan reorganises its defence around drones and Russia fields a nuclear underwater weapon — deterrence rebuilt into hardware, with less room to defuse a crisis. more