Mornings with Jones and Melbourne

Three children and a teacher were killed in a school shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, after authorities said the shooter entered by firing through locked doors with a long gun. The children killed were aged between five and eleven, and the suspect was identified as a 16-year-old local resident who was shot dead at the scene by a community member who pursued him into the school. Two people, a teacher and a child, remained in hospital, and police went door-to-door to ensure students were evacuated safely. The broadcast also reported rare access to the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier deployed in the Arabian Sea and within striking distance of both Iran and Yemen, as Iran-backed Houthis intensified strikes in Saudi Arabia and President Trump was said to be weighing renewed strikes on Tehran. A correspondent on the carrier described planes launching and air assets providing overwatch for tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz amid Iranian threats, and reported that the ship's home base is Japan but it is now in the Middle East, with the deployment described as expensive and stretching the military. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting met US counterpart Pete Hegseth in Washington and said he was reassured that Ukraine's access to Starlink had been restored. A correspondent described the meeting as awkward on Ukraine, reporting Streeting's speech warning about appeasement and borders being redrawn by force, while questions were shouted at Hegseth and analysis focused on the shifting US position and Donald Trump's long-term intent toward Putin.

With less than two weeks until John Healey delivers his first budget as Chancellor, the broadcast reported that it could include action on welfare reform after he vowed not to let the UK's benefits bill spiral out of control. Former work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that it was important to get more people back into work while setting a path to bring down the growing cost of the scheme, saying good work is good for people's dignity, self-worth, independence and mental health. The Foreign Office published its formal response to a report by MPs into the vetting process for Peter Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US, saying it welcomed conversation with the Foreign Affairs Committee about new checks on appointments to head of mission roles. A political correspondent said the government agreed MPs should be able to interview prospective senior diplomats but not to give them the power to block an appointment, and that the Mandelson appointment had been a major story involving concerns over his connections with Jeffrey Epstein. The broadcast also reported that Prime Minister Andy Burnham had made clear he was keen for the UK to have closer ties with the EU, and a correspondent asked EU leaders at a Brussels summit whether they would welcome Britain rejoining. Responses ranged from support and calls for Britain to return to the family to caution that it was up to the British people and that the UK must learn its lesson, with one leader calling Brexit a catastrophe for the EU.

A woman who claims she was raped by Russell Brand told his trial she had nightmares about the possibility of being pregnant, the broadcast reported, while Brand denies allegations of sexual assault including rape of six women. Correspondents hosting a podcast on the trial described watching a two-hour police interview video recorded in a domestic setting, with children's water bottles and drawings on the fridge visible. The broadcast reported that a long-delayed report into an Abu Dhabi-backed attempt to buy the Telegraph was set to be made public as early as today. A city editor said the government was finally about to publish two reports examining whether Abu Dhabi state investors should have been allowed to buy the Daily Telegraph in 2024, and that one Ofcom report was understood to have concluded there would be a serious impact on press freedom if the investment had gone ahead; the deal did not happen. The report was said to be significant because of scrutiny of Andy Burnham's links to Abu Dhabi, including property deals when he was mayor of Greater Manchester and his comments about Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners, which he later retracted, amid tension in the UK-UAE relationship and concerns about multi-billion-pound investment. The SNP conference continued in Aberdeen with a focus on energy policy, in a city that has seen thousands of job losses while awaiting a green transition. The party, which had previously opposed new drilling, has argued that domestic supply is vital for energy security, though it has not definitively said whether it backs new licenses for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields. A report also noted Aberdeen's declining oil and gas workforce, efforts by some businesses to pivot to new technology, and the UK government's insistence that independence is off limits and that GB Energy will help bring 10,000 clean energy jobs by 2030.