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Money Hacks How young people can cash in on discounts... or go free

There are regional schemes that offer cheap or free travel to young people. In London, travel on buses is free with a 16+ Zip Oyster photocard, rather than £1.75 a trip, and you get 50% off adult pay-as-you-go fares on the tube, DLR and London Overground until 30 September in the year after your 18th birthday. If you are 19 and turned 18 before 31 August, live in Greater London and are in the sixth form, college or training, you are still eligible for the concession.

Q&A How to warm up and keep bills down this winter

With the return of darker evenings this weekend and the heating coming on, Zoe Wood puts your energy questions to our experts

Reeves 'must get balance right' on debt rules, says NatWest CEO

Rachel Reeves must \"get the balance right\" when announcing changes to Britain's debt rules next week, given the potential knock-on effects to borrowing and mortgage rates, the boss of NatWest has warned.

Warm welcome Washington visit gives the chancellor a boost ahead of budget

Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund suggested he was relaxed about higher debt levels to fund public investment.

Car loan users win milestone legal challenge against lenders

Consumers have won a landmark car finance mis-selling case, in a development that could pave the way for companies to be forced to pay billions of pounds in compensation to borrowers.

Brexit raises cost of energy from EU by £370m a year

Brexit has added up to £370m a year to the price of power supplies from Europe, according to industry representatives. They calculate the total energy costs of leaving the EU could amount to £10bn by the end of the decade.

Beleaguered Thames Water pushes to secure £3bn lifeline

Thames Water is racing to secure a £3bn lifeline as the struggling water company battles for financial survival.

'Unjust threat' Murdoch joins artists in fight against AI firms' content use

It is an unlikely alliance: the billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a panoply of leading artists including Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, actor Julianne Moore and author Kazuo Ishiguro. This week both began very public fights with artificial intelligence companies, accusing them of using their intellectual property without permission to build the increasingly powerful and lucrative new technology.

Weather forecasts How the climate crisis is challenging meteorologists

Why do TV and radio forecasts rarely contextualise extreme weather events in terms of the climate crisis?

Core value Appeal to save first bramley apple tree

It is the mother tree of perhaps the most popular cooking apple in the world. But the original Bramley apple has been neglected and barred from public view, according to descendants of the gardener who discovered it.

Emotions play important role in research, say climate scientists

Climate scientists who were mocked and criticised after speaking up about their fears for the future have said acknowledging strong emotions is vital to their work.

Cloud forest in Ecuador could be recognised as songwriter in radical legal proposition

A forest in Ecuador could be recognised as the co-creator of a song under a groundbreaking legal proposal.

AI-powered garden that can ask for water will appear at Chelsea

Gardeners sometimes talk quietly to their trees and shrubs - but at next year's Chelsea flower show, visitors will be encouraged to have a chat with its first garden powered by artificial intelligence.

'Watershed' for Georgia as Voters choose between Russia and west

Georgians will vote today in a critical election that could determine whether one of the once most pro-western former Soviet states will veer towards a more authoritarian, Russia-aligned path.

Stage review Shakespeare throbs with strobe lights and glitter

Like the pangs of romance or the pull of melodrama, adolescent angst proves timeless. Sam Gold, the director of a newly revived Romeo + Juliet on Broadway, knows this – the production, an admirably diverse, comfortably queer and aggressively millennial version featuring original music from the pop maestro Jack Antonoff, leans hard into the text’s hot-blooded, definitively teenage impulsivity. But he doesn’t seem to trust it.

'War crime' Journalists die in strike on Lebanese press post

Three journalists from the TV stations Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar were killed and several others hurt yesterday in an Israeli airstrike on their press station in southern Lebanon.

Generals' plan The blueprint behind the IDF offensive in northern Gaza

Hospitals shelled, shelters set alight, men and boys separated from their families and taken away in military vehicles: a year into the Israel-Hamas war, civilians clinging on in northern Gaza say the situation is worse than it has ever been.

UN human rights chief warns of 'darkest moment' as 72 die in Gaza

At least 72 people have been killed in Israeli operations across Gaza in the past day, hospital officials in the besieged territory have said, although communication difficulties in the north of the Strip mean the final toll could be much higher.

Jordan Calls for halt to 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

Jordan's foreign minister has called for pressure on Israel to end what he called the \"ethnic cleansing\" in Gaza, as he met the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in London.

Notre Dame rejects visitor charge that would fund heritage 'preservation plan'

Weeks before its grand reopening after a devastating fire, Notre Dame has become embroiled in an escalating row over whether to charge visitors a fee to enter the 12th-century gothic masterpiece.

Widening conflict North Korea's involvement in Russia's war in Ukraine is raising fears in Seoul

The video is grainy, but the message is clear. The clip, posted by NK News, purports to show North Korean soldiers in green fatigues receiving basic supplies at a training base in Russia's east, before joining Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

The Pelicot trial Hearings expose 'profound problem' of attitudes to rape

Hearings expose 'profound problem' of attitudes to rape

The world's fate in their hands The seven key battleground states that will decide the presidency

Spare a thought for beleaguered Pennsylvanians. Over the past few weeks they have been pummelled with $280m-worth of campaign ads, part of an eye-popping $2.1bn spent so far on the US presidential election.

Foreign policy Why the stakes have never been higher for US and the rest of the world

When Americans choose between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris next month, the decision will mark one of the most consequential elections for American foreign policy in generations that could ripple out into conflicts and redraw alliances around the world.

Harris and Trump locked in nail-bitingly close race as 'Democratic panic' rises

Less than a fortnight before polling day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a nail-bitingly close US presidential election race, triggering pessimism among Democrats and confidence among Republicans - even though polls suggest both candidates have a near-equal chance of entering the White House.

Seeing someone trapped between a rock and a hard place is strangely uplifting

Friends in New York with non-American accents are careful not to go canvassing in swing states (or anywhere else).

Theatre review Sombre, even-toned staging digs subtly into characters

With its fibs, delusions and mislaid props, Shakespeare's Othello is structured almost like farce - one that goes horribly wrong.

Youth worker shot by police with stun gun wins assault case

A black youth worker who was shot with a Taser electrical weapon while standing with his arms folded during a road stop has won an appeal for damages from City of London police.

Beauty halls Spending on cosmetics and fragrance is soaring

With their perfectly groomed and liveried assistants stood down during the pandemic, it seemed the department store beauty hall might have had its day. But temples of pampering are making a high street comeback as Britons prioritise looking good.

Far steeper cuts to carbon emissions needed, say climate campaigners

Climate campaigners have urged ministers to make steeper cuts in Britain's greenhouse gas emissions after the government's statutory adviser on the climate gave its verdict on new targets.