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Mar 15, 2026 - World

Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump administration official, outlined a pessimistic long-term scenario for the Iran conflict, predicting that despite military devastation, the underlying tensions driving the war will remain unresolved."Most likely outcome now: Iran's military is devastated. Regime survives. The Strait stays closed until both sides find a face-saving off-ramp," Scaramucci stated, characterizing the likely trajectory of the conflict.According to Scaramucci's analysis, the war will ultimately result in a pyrrhic outcome that benefits neither side strategically. While Trump will declare victory domestically and Iran's leadership will claim resistance and defiance, the fundamental geopolitical tensions that sparked the conflict remain intact.The ex-insider predicted several consequences flowing from this stalemate. Oil prices will eventually drop as markets adjust to the new status quo, while Iran's nuclear program will be temporarily set back without being eliminated entirely. However, he emphasized this represents no permanent resolution."We'll be back here in 10 years," Scaramucci concluded, suggesting the conflict's underlying causes—unresolved regional rivalry, sanctions, and nuclear proliferation concerns—will inevitably resurface.The prediction reflects growing expert consensus that without a clear diplomatic off-ramp or decisive military outcome, the Iran war risks becoming a prolonged stalemate that exhausts resources while failing to achieve lasting strategic objectives.

Mar 15, 2026 - World

‘I did it for the people,’ says Farbod Mehr, of song drawing lyrics from the work of revolutionary 20th-century poet Aref QazviniA stirring song – sung, apparently, by a young woman, with lyrics expressing the hope that sacrifice will lead to a better future – has become a soundtrack for Iranians in the first part of 2026, as the country experienced the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests and then the US-Israeli air assault, now in its third week.However, the singer, called Nava, is a product of artificial intelligence, created by a London-based artist of Iranian origin, Farbod Mehr. Continue reading...

Mar 15, 2026 - World

Nottinghamshire and Met police made arrests in past year, despite MPs voting to decriminalise in England and WalesVulnerable women in England are still being arrested and facing police investigations over suspected illegal pregnancy terminations, despite parliament backing changes to the law to decriminalise abortion.Responding to a freedom of information request, Nottinghamshire police and the Metropolitan police confirmed they had arrested women suspected of illegal terminations between June last year and this January. Continue reading...

Mar 15, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may end up becoming a tense standoff after the newly re-elected leader vowed to be “candid” about the economic pain the Trump administration had inflicted on the East Asian nation.“If President Donald Trump is expecting effusive praise for his war on Iran when Japan’s prime minister arrives in Washington on Thursday, he is likely to be disappointed,” wrote Bronwen Maddox, director of the British foreign-policy think tank Chatham House in the organization’s report Sunday. “Sanae Takaichi, re-elected in February in a landslide victory, says she intends to be ‘candid’ in pointing out that Japan’s oil-dependent economy is suffering badly from the conflict.”Oval Office visits, Maddox noted, have often “become bear traps” for foreign leaders, perhaps most notably for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he was chastised last year by Trump and Vice President JD Vance for nearly an hour. However, given the historic disruption to oil trade sparked by the Trump administration’s attack on Iran, Takaichi is expected to be blunt with Trump, Maddox wrote.“She will want reassurance about the US’s security umbrella, the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy since 1945,” Maddox wrote. “Trump is likely to repeat instead his demand for Japan to pay more for its own defence.”As the world’s fifth largest importer of oil, Japan’s economy has been hit hard by the disruption in oil trade, with 95% of Japan’s oil imports coming from the Middle East. Japan’s cost of living has spiked as a result, leading Maddox to predict Takaichi may “want to use the good rapport she struck up with the U.S. president at a meeting in October to make the point about the impact of the war on other countries.”

Mar 15, 2026 - World

Ministers go to Brussels for talks amid tuition fees standoff, almost 10 years after Britons voted to leave EUThis week is “Brexit reset” week for the British government, as ministers engage in a flurry of activity intended to highlight their determination to forge closer ties with Brussels almost 10 years after the country first voted to leave the EU.On Monday, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of negotiating the government’s reset with the EU, will arrive in Brussels for a meeting of the joint EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly. He travels mob-handed, to be joined by the Europe minister, Stephen Doughty, and the trade minister, Chris Bryant. Continue reading...