Burnham to take helm of ‘poverty stricken disaster,’ says Trump
Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader and the country’s next prime minister, during ‘Labour’s Special Conference’ in central London on July 17, 2026.
Henry Nicholls | Afp | Getty Images
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.
Football may not have come home this time, but Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham does have a new home.
Read on!
What you need to know today
Today, Andy Burnham will enter Downing Street as the British Prime Minister.
He is expected to announce a raft of policy changes, from devolution from London to an overhaul of the Treasury. But the most contentious could be his approach to North Sea oil.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to welcome Burnham’s approach to “open up” North Sea oil, saying it will take “the United Kingdom from a Poverty Stricken Disaster to one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the world.”
The devil will be in the details, after Labour’s deputy party leader Lucy Powell told the BBC that Burnham would not overturn a manifesto pledge to end new exploration licences.
He is expected to travel to Aberdeen in Scotland to push for further drilling in existing oil fields, ahead of upcoming decisions about the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields that sit offshore.
Oil drives higher
A third service member has been confirmed as killed in recent operations. U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X that it had completed the ninth consecutive night of strikes against targets in Iran, further “degrading Iranian military capabilities.”
Early Monday, sirens continued to be heard in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan as Iran launched drone attacks against targets within its Gulf neighbours.
There has also been an escalation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow launched one of its biggest ballistic missile attacks against the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, while drones from Ukraine delivered one of their deadliest strikes on Russia in over two years.
Boeing is back
Spain’s success, FIFA wins
Rodri of Spain celebrates by lifting the FIFA World Cup trophy with teammates after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina.
Alex Livesey – Danehouse | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Another winner, was FIFA itself. The world’s football governing body is poised to net over $9 billion in revenue for 2026.
Meanwhile, another one to come out on top is prediction market Kalshi, which added 3 million new users during the World Cup.
More than $1.2 billion has been traded on Kalshi’s contracts that ask traders to predict the winner of the World Cup — a record for a singular market.
— Leonie Kidd
And finally…
Universal and Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ sails to $124.5 million opening
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is off to an epic start.
The Universal film adaptation tallied an estimated $124.5 million in its opening weekend as audiences flocked to premium large-format screenings, especially IMAX theaters.
“Death, taxes, and Christopher Nolan,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “He’s reinvented the superhero genre, captured the zeitgeist with multiple thought-provoking originals, and turned a three-hour biopic into a global blockbuster. He’s done it again with the retelling of a 2,700-year-old poem that serves as the foundation of what we recognize as modern storytelling.”
— Sarah Whitten