The city’s main liquified natural gas (LNG) processing site suffered a “technical accident” in Ras Laffan industrial zone on Sunday night, the interior ministry said, with the city’s skyline turning orange because of the explosion.

Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said the explosion would not affect the country’s exports, adding “this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”.

The Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbour in the world and has the world’s largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year.

The blast on Sunday rattled windows and was felt across central Doha, panicking residents more than 70km (43 miles) from Ras Laffan.

Sherida al-Kaabi added the government was working on determining the cause of the blast which occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility, he added there was no environmental risks.

However, the energy minister said it would be difficult to determine when operations would resume.

“Plant production was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements, it was first restarted again only two days ago,” Sherida al-Kaabi said.

NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell said in a statement reported by her employer that her husband had died from complications of Parkinson’s Disease.

Mitchell’s statement said Greenspan was “a giant of a man who helped shape the US economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes”.

For nearly 20 years, Alan Greenspan was charged with safeguarding the US economy and keeping the dollar sound.

As chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006, a post described as the second most important after the presidency, he presided over the longest sustained period of US economic growth in a generation.

Described as the “God in the machine” of American finance, Greenspan declined all requests for interviews during his time at the Fed.

The media and the money markets hung on his few public statements, and a sign in his office said simply, “the buck starts here”.

But critics argue that an over-reliance on easy credit fuelled the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008.

The US vice-president said a great deal of progress had been made after the first round of talks between the US and Iran to reach a final deal to end the war, echoing a statement by mediators.

He said teams had discussed the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and “de-confliction for the regional ceasefire”.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week includes a commitment to re-opening the strait and the ending the fighting on “all fronts” – including Lebanon.

In a joint statement released earlier on Monday, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said that after the first round of talks, the US and Iran had agreed to “a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days”. Vance described the talks as having laid a “very good foundation” for negotiations towards a final settlement.

Speaking in Switzerland on Monday morning, the vice-president said the nuclear issue was “probably the one we’re most excited about as Americans”.

“[This] is a major milestone for the American people and a first step in permanently… ending a nuclear weapons programme in Iran,” he said.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.

From 1 July, single-entry visa fees will be raised from the current 3,000 yen ($18.69) to 15,000 yen, while multi-entry visas will now cost 30,000 yen, up from 6,000 yen.

The visa fee revisions – the first since 1978 – were made to “reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations”, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters on Friday.

“We do not anticipate that it will have an immediate impact on inbound tourism,” he added.

The Japanese yen has been weakening continually since 2021, and is now hovering near historic 40-year lows.

This, along with a post-pandemic travel rebound, has led to a surge in tourists to Japan. The country welcomed a record 42.7m international tourists last year.

In a tearful statement outside No.10 Downing Street, Starmer said he had informed King Charles III of his decision to quit.

It comes after Labour’s Andy Burnham decisively beat Reform UK in the Makerfield by-election, making him eligible to challenge Starmer for the leadership of the governing Labour Party. The scale of Burnham’s win has helped tip more Labour MPs into his camp.

Starmer said Monday he had asked Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to launch a leadership contest, with nominations open until July 9 and the race over by the summer parliamentary recess.

The aim is to have a new Labour leader in place by September — and Starmer said he will “remain in place until the contest is complete” and “ensure an orderly handover of power.” That timeline could be compressed if Burnham goes unchallenged.

The talks began on Sunday in Switzerland, after last week’s initial agreement between the US and Iran. Technical talks will continue throughout the week.

In a joint statement early on Monday, Qatar and Pakistan said that a “High Level Committee” had agreed to “a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days”.

Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the talks “delivered major progress” to end the conflict in Lebanon.

The memorandum of understanding signed last week includes a commitment to reach a final deal within 60 days, as well as an end to fighting on “all fronts” – including in Lebanon – and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The mediators’ joint statement said that a “communication line” had been formed “to avoid incidents and miscommunication with the aim of safe passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz”.

The prime minister has been under mounting pressure to quit since Andy Burnham’s victory at the Makerfield by-election last week.

All weekend Labour politicians kept largely silent – leaving the prime minister to mull his political mortality at Chequers.

Today that is likely to end, with senior government figures expecting Starmer to announce both his resignation, and a plan to hand over to his successor.

It is unclear whether that could last weeks or even months. While a leadership contest is possible, a coronation looks increasingly likely – with Burnham the probable beneficiary. He is due to be sworn in as an MP in the Commons chamber this afternoon.

If the UK does get a new prime minister – its fifth in four years – a new cabinet will be appointed and a new policy platform set out. Opposition parties are likely to question whether Starmer’s successor has the mandate.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck 80 targets linked to the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah and killed “dozens” of its members.

It comes a day after the US and Iran signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East, including a permanent cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have carried out strikes against each other since the agreement was announced, raising questions about the future of the truce between the US and Iran.

The US-Iran deal calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, and for Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty to be respected.

However, Israel has said it has no intention of withdrawing its forces from Lebanon and has insisted that its conflict with Hezbollah is separate from the war on Iran.

The White House announced late on Thursday that Vance would not be travelling to the talks and said the logistics had not been “simple or predictable”.

It comes a day after the US dropped its naval blockade of Iran after the two countries signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict.

While the deal also said fighting should end in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 18 people in the south overnight.

Israel’s military said it had targeted the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, and that four of its own soldiers had been killed.

Negotiators had been due to meet for what US officials described as “technical discussions” on the next steps of the agreement signed earlier this week.

But in its statement, the White House said plans for the talks had “not been finalised”. It added that the US looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”.