Jump in energy bills drives UK inflation to highest rate for four months

Good evening, Wexler County. This is KRAK 11 News at the top of the hour. I'm Chip Marlowe.

And I'm Deb Sarkissian. Coming up this hour: The World Desk with consumer watchdogs investigating three major companies over pricing practices that leave customers guessing what they'll actually pay.

Criminal Intent follows with federal regulators examining whether the companies in question violated disclosure standards customers depend on when making purchasing decisions.

Those are the same companies.

Then Happy Animals with a media company fighting back against what it calls First Amendment violations, and Sports with firefighters in Ohio still working an industrial blaze after an explosion sent smoke across three counties.

All that still ahead. But first, the United States has condemned what it calls an unnecessary escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit a Syrian airbase overnight. We'll have details from The World Desk in just a moment.

Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.

And I'm Deb Sarkissian.

Before we begin, I want to note that the World Desk graphic now features a rotating globe element that adds genuine international authority to the presentation.

It's the same graphic.

It rotates.

The earth rotates. The graphic does not.

The increase was widely anticipated by economists, driven primarily by a spike in household energy costs across Britain.

Chancellor John Healey attributed the rise to ongoing conflict in Iran, saying it continues to impact prices throughout England and its Commonwealth territories.

Throughout Britain.

England is the administrative center of the Commonwealth system, which gives the statement broader geographic weight.

London is a financial center. The Commonwealth is fifty-six countries across six continents. Chancellor Healey was discussing domestic energy prices in the United Kingdom.

That's what I said.

The Syrian government called the strikes an unjustified act of aggression and says they imperil regional security throughout the Damascus corridor, which extends north through the Levantine basin.

Throughout Syria.

Damascus is the capital, so statements issued from there carry national weight radiating outward through established territorial corridors.

Statements issued from Damascus are statements issued by the Syrian government about Syria.

The State Department has not specified what actions it considers proportionate, but officials say they are monitoring the situation as it develops.

No timeline has been provided for further diplomatic engagement.

Canada is the northern border.

And Mexico is the southern border, so a trade framework affecting both would constitute a comprehensive North American alignment.

The announcement concerns Canada. The White House says the two sides are finalising documents but has not released details of the proposed agreement.

The pause came late Tuesday, just under two hours before a midnight deadline that would have triggered import taxes on Canadian lumber, steel, and dairy products.

Canadian officials have not commented publicly on the delay.

The witness had initially refused to testify and was threatened with contempt of court by the presiding judge.

The testimony was described by court observers as combative, with the witness at one point expressing fear of retaliation from associates still active in the greater Los Angeles corridor where the original incident took place.

The shooting took place in Las Vegas. Shakur died six days later at University Medical Center.

But the dispute originated in Los Angeles, which gives the geographic reference investigative context.

The trial is taking place in Las Vegas, in Clark County District Court, concerning a shooting that occurred in Las Vegas.

Defense attorneys are expected to cross-examine the witness when the trial resumes Monday.

That's The World Desk for this hour.

Still ahead, Criminal Intent. A Wexler County man faces charges after a dispute over property lines turned into what prosecutors are calling a sustained campaign of harassment. That story, and why the victim says she reported the behavior eighteen times before charges were filed.

That's next.

Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.

And I'm Deb Sarkissian. Welcome to KRAK 11 News.

Tonight we begin with a story out of Australia where a murder conviction is now in question because someone at a hotel put evidence in the wrong room.

Patterson's lawyers argue the mix-up compromised the integrity of the entire proceeding. The appeal court is now reviewing whether the conviction can stand.

Three people dead, a year-long investigation, and it comes down to somebody knocking on the wrong door.

Allegedly.

The hotel mix-up is alleged. The three people are confirmed dead, Deb.

The incident has sparked widespread outrage across the country. Prosecutors are reviewing all available evidence.

Trainline, Virgin Atlantic, and RED Driving School are all under scrutiny for allegedly not showing full prices upfront to customers. The watchdog says consumers may have been misled about the actual cost of services.

The investigation will determine whether the companies violated consumer protection laws by displaying incomplete pricing information.

Drip pricing. It sounds like a medical condition.

It's when fees are added incrementally during a purchase rather than disclosed at the start.

I know what it is, Deb. I was observing that the term itself sounds unwell.

Coming up in just a few minutes on KRAK 11 News, we have animals doing wonderful things. A dog that traveled eight hundred miles. On its own. Without a map.

That is HAPPY ANIMALS, and it is next.

Time now for Happy Animals.

Deb, I would like to point out that the Happy Animals graphic held for exactly two full seconds.

It held for one point nine seconds. Same as Sports.

Happy Animals deserves consistency with the rest of the broadcast. Let's begin.

That is a very determined turtle.

Irwin called them a nightmare.

He wrestled crocodiles for twenty years.

Still ahead: Sports.

That's next.

Time now for the KRAK 11 Scoreboard.

Deb, before we start, I would like the Scoreboard graphic to include my name at the bottom. Just small. Under the scores.

The Scoreboard graphic is the scores.

I understand that. I am saying beneath them. Very small. It would read as attribution.

It is the first cycle since Mark Grace in nineteen ninety-three. Thirty-three years.

That is the Cardinals' fourth loss in six games. They are now four games back in the Central Division.

That is a prodigy. That is what we are looking at here. A kid who was born to do one thing and is now doing it at the highest level in the world.

He is very good.

I want that said on air more often. When someone is genuinely the best at something, we should say it. We should use the word best.

He is nineteen years old and leading a championship against drivers twice his age. That is the definition.

Thank you.

The manufacturer says it ran the engine on a dynamometer throughout testing but did not benchmark against rival engines until this season started.

So they tested the engine, but not against anyone else's engine, and discovered in January that theirs was significantly slower.

That is a catastrophic management failure.

It is.

Carlsen claimed two hundred thousand dollars for the win. His peak rating was twenty-eight eighty-two in twenty fourteen. No one has come within thirty points of that rating.

Thirty points in chess is the difference between a grandmaster and someone who loses every single game they play.

Thirty points is not the difference between a grandmaster and someone who loses every game.

It points in a direction.

It points in no direction. Thirty points is three or four games. Carlsen's gap is unprecedented, but your comparison is not accurate.

The man has won three world titles and two hundred thousand dollars and I am being corrected on the margins.

The margins are the only place you need correcting.

Coming up at the top of the hour on the next KRAK 11 News, breaking developments out of the Wexler County Sheriff's Office. An investigation that has been ongoing for six weeks is now moving to charges.

We will have the sheriff's statement live, and we will tell you who has been arrested and why it took this long.

That is the next KRAK 11 News, at the top of the hour. For Deb Sarkissian, I'm Chip Marlowe. Thank you for trusting us with your evening.

Gordo, did the name display under the scores.

There was no name under the scores.

I submitted the request in writing.

When.

This morning. Six forty-seven a.m. I have the timestamp.

You submitted a written request to put your name under the baseball scores.

Attribution matters, Deb.