Tuesday, March 10, 2026

World

US-Israel strikes continue as Iran appoints new supreme leader

US and Israeli warplanes launched fresh waves of strikes across Iran in the second week of the conflict, while Mojtaba Khamenei — son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — was appointed supreme leader as crowds gathered in Tehran's Enghelab Square in a defiant show of support. Trump gave contradictory signals on the war's end, calling it won but 'not won enough', while Iran's foreign minister declared negotiations with Washington permanently off the table. Iranian counterattacks hit targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus — the first EU member state struck — prompting Macron to declare it 'an attack on Europe'.

Economy

Oil prices swing wildly as Iran war rattles global markets

Crude oil surged to nearly $120 a barrel before crashing back below $90 within 24 hours, after Trump signalled some sanctions on oil producers would be lifted and hinted the war could end soon. The whipsaw move has left economists warning of a renewed global inflation shock, with the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves telling MPs that rising prices are now likely, and Indian refiners still exposed despite a US waiver allowing purchases of Russian oil. Putin, seizing the moment, offered to resume Russian energy supplies to Europe as prices hit levels unseen since the start of the Ukraine war.

Politics

Democrats file war powers resolutions demanding Iran hearings

Senate Democrats have filed a wave of war powers resolutions demanding public hearings on the Iran conflict, calling on figures including Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio to testify before Congress about what they are calling an 'unnecessary war'. The push comes as polls show a majority of Americans oppose the conflict, and as Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham separately threatened Saudi Arabia with unspecified 'consequences' for refusing to join US strikes against Iran. Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and others are leading the charge.

Tech

Anthropic sues Trump administration over supply chain risk label

AI company Anthropic has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging its designation as a 'supply chain risk', arguing the label is unlawful and violates its free speech and due process rights under the US Constitution. The company, maker of the Claude AI assistant, has been locked in a public dispute with government officials over use of its technology. The lawsuit marks one of the first direct legal challenges by a major AI firm against the administration.

World

North Korea missile test signals nuclear resolve amid Iran war

North Korea's launch of a missile from a naval destroyer last week — which Kim Jong-un said was making 'satisfactory progress' toward arming ships with nuclear weapons — is being read by analysts as a deliberate message that Pyongyang will never give up its arsenal in light of the US attack on Iran. The test reinforces a long-held North Korean calculation that only nuclear weapons guarantee regime survival, a view the Iran conflict has made harder for any diplomat to rebut. Speculation is meanwhile mounting that Kim and Trump could hold a summit as early as this month.