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The war against Iran has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertiliser shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices. The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed. In this backdrop, the entry of Iranian-backed Houthi (Ansarallah) rebels in the war, has increased concern regarding shutting down of yet another passage for oil tankers, through Bab el-Mandeb.

NEW YORK: It began, as these things often do, with the language of certainty. Targeted strikes. Decisive blows. A crippled nuclear program and a supreme leader dead. Washington and Tel Aviv declared the opening salvos of their campaign against Iran a strategic masterstroke — a swift, surgical intervention that would fracture a regime, end a nuclear threat, and reshape the Middle East in a single, overwhelming moment of force.

More than 3,000 ‘No Kings’ protests against the Trump administration were held across America and in more than a dozen countries on Saturday (March 27), according to a coalition of organisers that included “anti-authoritarian” groups - Indivisible and 50501, labour unions and other grassroots organisations.

US President Donald Trump’s attempt to jawbone oil lower has run into the hard edge of market reality. At the start, the strategy appeared to work. When he signalled that peace talks with Iran were possible and suggested a diplomatic opening, crude quickly gave back a large share of its war premium. A March 23 post pointing to “productive talks” triggered a drop of more than 10% in oil prices and lifted broader risk appetite across global markets. But that first reaction now looks less like a durable change in expectations and more like a reflexive relief trade in a market desperate for any sign that the conflict might be contained. As Trump repeated the claim, extended deadlines, and kept alive what amounted to a rolling “peace window”, the effect faded sharply. Later announcements produced only modest or negligible moves, a sign that traders had stopped treating presidential messaging as reliable guidance on the trajectory of the war.

AI-Driven automation could close off many pathways to decent work, including clerical and administrative positions, particularly for women and young workers, which historically represent relatively higher-quality jobs in lower-income countries. Not only that, the disruption by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in developing economies may materialize faster than productivity gains due to existing digital gaps and differences in how work is performed.

There is a shift in climate crisis. It is not a headline temperature spike or a heatwave. The earth is now consistently absorbing more energy than it releases. The growing imbalance is a structural break in the planet's physical equilibrium which is driven by human activity.

PARIS: Nearly all parties celebrated the results of France’s municipal elections, held on March 15 and 22. Above all, the contests confirmed just how muddled the country’s political situation is ahead of the 2027 presidential elections.

U.S. President Donald Trump finally rescheduled his much awaited visit to China on May 14 and 15 by announcing in his Truth Social there by creating big interest in the diplomatic circles about the possibility of a sort of ceasefire in the current West Asian war before the scheduled trip to Beijing. Earlier Trump was scheduled to visit China on March31- April 2 but he postponed that by talking to the Chinese President Xi Jinping about his preoccupation in the Iran war.

NEW YORK: Peace in the middle east has many roadblocks as Iran rejected initially Trump’s 15-point one sided peace plan coming up with its own counter terms and retaining its right to maintain stock piles, control of Hormuz and arming militias in its neighbourhood as measures to protect itself from hostile actors in the theater of war.

All across the world, a million-dollar question is being asked: what will be the final outcome of the war of aggression the US and Israel jointly initiated with the elimination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28? Subsequently, there were ferocious attacks on Iran’s facilities, both military and civilian. As late as March 21, Donald Trump had issued a unilateral threat to Iran, through his most favoured line of communication. The post in Truth Social threatened hitherto unknown level of destruction unless Iran voluntarily removed all impediments on movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. It also threatened the destruction of entire power and energy infrastructure of Iran.