US immigration agents often work with their faces covered and do not wear identification.

Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.

The leak includes names, work addresses, and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work that they do for each agency.

Wednesday's leak marks the third time in recent weeks that a government agency has been targeted in leaks or hacks.

A representative of the DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The seemingly unprecedented breach of employee information was put online on Wednesday by a group called the Department of Peace alongside cybersecurity researcher and hacker maia crimew.

The information was put in a database named Icepick and shared through a website hosted by Distributed Denial of Secrets.

The groups wrote in an online statement that the goal of the leak was not meant to be a directory of every DHS agent. Rather the aim was to replace "anonymity with accountability", according to Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets.

"The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in it's simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government's hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation - along with key personnel in DHS's ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs," Best added.

The Department of Peace said on Wednesday that it accessed the DHS agent profiles through a single sign-on service called Okta.

Okta is a popular online security tool that organisations use to ensure that only people with access to internal platforms are logging on to them.

A spokeswoman for Okta said the company is aware of the claims being made, but said: "Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised."

Last month, the FBI was hacked with a group called ShinyHunters taking personal information about thousands of agents.

In recent days, the Federal Election Commission, which makes public political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of a suspected hacking attempt.

The UK may have no involvement in the US-Iran war, but the country is feeling the full force of the conflict on its economy.

Soaring energy prices are set to dent growth in the short term, push up inflation and leave living standards in a "grim" place, according to the latest official forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Interest rates are also predicted to rise, making borrowing more expensive, along with government debt repayments.

Chancellor John Healey warned the nation faces "real challenges ahead" as he announced policies that he said would offer "breathing space" for households in the coming months.

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"What we face today are global economic storms," he said. "We can't wish them away. We must choose the course we steer through them."

In its first assessment of the UK economy since the Middle East conflict started, the OBR said rising energy prices were the biggest risk to the economy in the near future.

Despite raising its growth forecast for this year, it sharply cut its prediction for next year from 1.6% to 1%.

Growth is then set to rebound in the following years.

When an economy grows, businesses tend to invest more, create more jobs and give pay rises to workers, which leaves people feeling better off on average, though it can take time and not everyone necessarily benefits.

Companies making higher profits also pay more in tax, which can enable the government to spend more on public services. When there is slow economic growth, or the economy shrinks, the opposite can occur.

Inflation can weigh on growth and the OBR has forecast that prices are set to rise at a faster pace as higher energy bills filter through supply chains and to consumers, especially in 2027.

High global oil prices have already hit drivers at the pumps, with petrol priced at almost £1.73 per litre on average, while diesel is near £1.99.

Elevated oil prices over time can lead to prices edging upwards across a host of goods, such as food, as companies pass on the higher expenses they face to consumers.

Goods are typically transported to destinations by lorries and vans, so high fuel prices can have far-reaching consequences.

The OBR now thinks inflation will stay higher for longer than previously forecast, peaking at 3.8% in 2027.

Despite the cost-of-living support announced by the government, economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the measures were "small beer given the surge in inflation we expect over the winter".

High inflation paints a bleak picture when it comes to living standards and the OBR has forecast a dip next year as energy bills hit the spending power of households.

Those on lower incomes are set to be hit harder, however, because energy costs eat up a bigger share of their monthly budget and disposable income.

Real household disposable income, a measure of living standards, is forecast to grow from 2027, but not by as much as previously thought.

"It's a pretty grim picture," according to the OBR's David Miles, who says there has been "virtually no growth" for individuals since before the Covid pandemic.

"It's been a dismal period in British economic history."

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Inflation is expected to average 3.4% next year, before falling to the Bank of England's 2% target towards the end of the decade.

The Bank is widely expected to raise interest rates next week due to higher inflation in recent months. Rates are currently at 3.75%, but the OBR now forecasts they could rise to as high as 4.5% in the coming years.

It had previously forecast two interest rate cuts this year.

Higher rates makes borrowing money more expensive but can boost returns on savings.

Inflation also raises the cost of borrowing for the government, with spending on debt interest set to rise.

Such repayments are also predicted to increase the overall amount the government borrows, which is set to increase every year by more than had been previously forecast by the OBR.

Higher spending on welfare and pensions due to inflation is also expected to increase borrowing, though it is forecast to fall as a share of the economy over the next five years.

However, forecasts are only a best guess at what might happen in the future. Given the way the conflict in the Middle East has upended previous predictions, the future of the war could alter inflation expectations.

US President Donald Trump has suggested the war will end after the mid-term elections next month.

The OBR admitted there remained "significant uncertainty" around its predictions due to the changing situation in the Middle East.

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Warnings of escalating clampdown on press freedom come after Cairo court convicts Attalah of managing an unlicensed website

Lina Attalah, a prominent Egyptian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, has been released from detention by Egypt's authorities and had her website ordered to be shut down by a court amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media in the country.

Attalah was taken briefly into custody after a Cairo court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website, prompting fresh international concerns over press freedom in Egypt.

According to Mada Masr, Attalah was released after the news outlet had paid a fine of 3m Egyptian pounds ($53,500; £40,100), prompting statements of support from global human rights groups.

"Lina Attalah was released after we paid the said fine," said her lawyer Hassan al-Azhari. "In the process, we discovered that she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to a year in prison, as well as a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds," he told AFP.

Attalah's defence team had appealed that sentence, and a new court hearing was scheduled for 11 November, Azhari added.

Attalah founded Mada Masr in 2013, after coming to international prominence in 2011 during the Arab spring. An advocate for press freedom, she has been arrested on a number of occasions.

Attalah's detention, and the ordered closure of Mada Masr – which says it had applied for a licence to operate three years ago and had no reply from Egyptian authorities – follows the arrest of the entire six-person team at the independent factchecking platform Matsadaash, who were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Attalah's legal team suggested she had been, in effect, ambushed during a court appearance, with a judge appointing a defence lawyer for her before security personnel detained her in the courtroom.

The crackdown "can only mean that Egypt's security agencies are moving from years of harassing independent media to wiping them out completely", said Hossam Bahgat, the head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), who attended the court hearing.

"This escalation validates our fears that the arrest and continued detention of the six Matsadaash journalists would signal a crackdown of unprecedented magnitude," said Bahgat. "It risks fully eviscerating the narrow margin of press freedoms that have been carefully maintained in Egypt over the past decade, albeit amid great personal sacrifice – a margin that had allowed the continued operation of a handful of news outlets and human rights organisations despite frequent harassment, including through legal avenues."

According to EIPR, the recent moves against independent media follow an increasing frequency of statements from the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi , since August claiming a conspiracy to destabilise the country. He has said he intended to remain in power until 2030 to protect Egypt from "traitors, criminals, and saboteurs".

Reporters Without Borders said the court's decision was "outrageous" and "shameful", urging authorities to release Attalah "at once". The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the verdict. Amnesty International said the verdict represented "a crushing blow to press freedom".

Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the CPJ. Attalah's lawyers took steps to challenge the ruling, with a hearing in a retrial of the case scheduled for 11 November.

Underlining concerns over the crackdown, Pen International issued a statement with several dozen civil society organisations condemning the moves.

"Though this is the sixth case brought against Mada Masr in six years, this is the first time that a case of this nature has been referred to trial," the writers' association said. "For years, Egyptian authorities have leveraged their repressive and restrictive tactics against independent media outlets to harass journalists, restrict their operations and chill freedom of expression. To escalate to the step of referral to trial must be read as a clear intent to entirely shutter the independent media space, and to permanently close what remains."

Cooperation among countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative has shifted from an infrastructure-led approach toward knowledge-driven development, with joint research, talent cultivation and inclusive innovation taking center stage, global educators said at the BRIDGE forum in Beijing on Friday.

"China-Africa cooperation has moved beyond railways and roads into the knowledge economy," said Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, Nigeria's ambassador to China.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road: Innovation, Dialogue, Growth and Exchange forum. The four-day event, organized by the University of Science and Technology Beijing, attracted more than 700 experts from over 40 countries and regions.

Reflecting on the 55 years of diplomatic relations between China and Nigeria, Dambazau said the partnership had previously been defined by trade and infrastructure, but its next phase would focus on knowledge and people.

"The next phase of China-Africa cooperation is not about who gives and who receives. It is about what we build, teach and invent together," he said.

"Education provides the language, science provides the tools, and technology provides the engine," Dambazau said. "We must move from quantity to quality, from government to government to people to people, from raw commodities to value addition."

Mundia Muya, vice-chancellor of the University of Zambia, echoed Dambazau's views, noting that international cooperation should go beyond visits, meetings and the signing of agreements to deliver tangible outcomes, including shared research, joint institutions, better-trained young people and practical solutions.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has created many new opportunities for connectivity and cooperation," said Muya, citing a joint laboratory established by China and Zambia to promote green and safe mining.

Benard William Chitunga, chancellor of the Co-operative University of Kenya and a partnership specialist at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation in promoting shared development.

Chitunga said the main challenge facing many countries in the Global South was not a lack of resources, but an inability to translate their potential into productivity and capabilities.

Development aid and policy advice, he said, had often arrived "like a tailor with a beautifully made suit — designed for somebody else", with African countries too often told to change themselves to fit imported development models.

"Africa must learn from the world — it needs technology, capital, infrastructure, global markets and strong institutions. But learning from the world should never require Africa to lose itself," he said.

The value of China's development path, Chitunga added, lies in its confidence to pursue modernization on its own terms, a lesson with profound relevance for African countries.

Yuan Zhaolin, an associate professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, shared insights from his eight years of work in Africa, where he has helped advance the local mining industry.

Yuan said his research focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into the entire metal value chain.

"AI plus mining, AI plus materials, AI plus metallurgy — what might be termed interdisciplinary research elsewhere is something that actually solves problems in Zambia," he said.

His team developed an intelligent system tailored to local conditions in Zambia, deliberately simplifying its design to prevent it from becoming "e-waste" after the researchers left. The team also trained local workers to operate the system, ensuring its continued use.

"Nowadays, we are talking about AI and computing power," Yuan said. "Computing power ends at electricity, electricity ends at energy, and energy ends at minerals. BRI countries like Zambia stand right at the starting point of this chain."

Yuan said AI offers African countries an opportunity to move beyond exporting raw resources, and develop the capacity to produce higher-value goods.

"They don't need a professional research and development team to become users of intelligent systems," he said.

"Truly valuable technology does not push a small few even higher. It lifts more people across the divide of development, so that all can move together toward modern prosperity," Yuan said.