Saturday, March 21, 2026

World

Trump Eyes Exit as Iran War Costs Mount

Trump has floated the idea of 'winding down' US military operations against Iran, saying the US is 'very close' to meeting its objectives — even as the Pentagon simultaneously orders more warships and thousands more troops to the region. The war's ripple effects are acute: Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drone strikes, Iranian damage to US bases has topped $800 million, and India is facing a cooking gas crisis as regional supply chains buckle.

Economy

US Issues Sanctions Waiver on Iranian Oil at Sea

The Trump administration has granted a 30-day sanctions waiver allowing buyers to purchase Iranian oil already at sea, the third such waiver in roughly two weeks as the US-Israeli war on Iran squeezes global energy supply. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the move will bring 140 million barrels to market, though he insists Tehran won't see the proceeds. Australia, Japan, and South Korea have all declined to send warships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, leaving Trump visibly irritated.

Tech

Jury Finds Musk Defrauded Twitter Investors in 2022 Buyout

A California jury has ruled Elon Musk liable for deliberately talking down Twitter's stock price during his $44 billion acquisition, handing a win to investors who sued him for fraud. The verdict stops short of finding him guilty on every count, but the damages phase could still cost him billions. The trial centred on tweets Musk posted in 2022 while engineering a lower purchase price for the platform.

Politics

Judge Strikes Down Pentagon's Restrictive Press Policy

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's Pentagon press access rules, which required journalists to pledge not to gather information unless Defense officials formally approved its release — a standard Judge Paul Friedman found incompatible with the First Amendment. The policy had already driven reporters out of the building rather than sign the pledge. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the New York Times.

Tech

Anthropic Fights Pentagon Claim It Could Sabotage AI in Wartime

Anthropic has submitted sworn declarations to a California federal court pushing back on the Department of Defense's assertion that the company poses an 'unacceptable risk to national security' by potentially manipulating its AI models mid-conflict. The filings reveal a strange timeline: the Pentagon told Anthropic the two sides were nearly aligned just one week before Trump publicly declared the relationship dead. Anthropic argues the government's case rests on technical misunderstandings that were never even raised during months of negotiations.