The Gulf braces for new strikes against Iran

A Democratic-controlled Congress may struggle to ease cost of living pressures and Middle East diplomats warn that renewed conflict between the US and Iran would be even more damaging than previous rounds of fighting. Serbia shuts down a bank favoured by Russians as it enters a new political era. Plus, Binance has started letting customers withdraw funds after the world's biggest crypto exchange experienced a record $6.3bn hack.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Petrol prices set to hit record high under Trump on eve of US elections

Gulf braced for escalation of war between US-Israel alliance and Iran

Serbia shuts down bank favoured by Russians

Inside the leaderless movement set to govern Serbia

Binance users pull $3.6bn as crypto exchange restarts services after heist

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The FT News Briefing is produced by Sonja Hutson, Saffeya Ahmed and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Our editor is Marc Filippino. Our video producers are Dennis Golin and Zachary Alfred. Our show is mixed by Sam Giovinco and Alex Higgins. Additional help from Gavin Kallmann, Michael Lello, Vanessa Brown, Peter Barber and David da Silva. Our executive producers are Charles Bell and Topher Forhecz. Flo Phillips is the FT’s global head of audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com