Political risk features among the top five risks on enterprise risk management registers for many global companies, but relatively few identify it as their most pressing concern. Of the political risks identified in a recent survey by Willis, financial setbacks stemming from US tariffs and the Russia-Ukraine war are the most concerning.

A series of National Occupational Standards for Resilience and Emergencies have been published by the UK’s Cabinet Office through its new standard setting body The Workforce Development Trust.

More than half of reported cyber breaches involving rated entities since 2000 have targeted sovereigns, local governments and state-owned critical infrastructure, according to analysis by S&P Global Ratings. Its report underscores the structural vulnerabilities facing public sector systems and infrastructure, particularly as nation-state actors adopt increasingly sophisticated tactics.

The Government has pledged to transform crisis training for thousands of public and private sector workers with its “cutting edge” Resilience Academy, launched this week. At least 4,000 people are set to be trained at the Academy’s North Yorkshire campus every year, it says, on business continuity planning, crowd management and crisis communications.

Global analytics and data provider Verisk has released a new catastrophe model to help insurers quantify the financial impacts of strikes, riots and civil commotion in the US. The Verisk SRCC Model captures frequency and severity across the spectrum of plausible loss-causing unrest across every ZIP Code in the country. It predicts the severity of an event by evaluating the key drivers of risk, including social and economic trends, political factors and historical protest patterns.

Power is returning to much of Spain and Portugal this evening after a widespread blackout struck around midday, affecting businesses and homes throughout both countries as well as parts of southern France. The power cut halted transport services, shut down sections of industry, and left homes and public infrastructure without power for much of the afternoon.