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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...

Mar 15, 2026 - World

Afghan government reports zero casualties and accuses neighbouring country of wanting to ‘fuel the fire of war’Pakistan has targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province overnight, as the fighting that erupted between the two neighbours late last month showed no signs of abating.The cross-border attacks, which have included Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul, are the deadliest yet between the countries. Islamabad has referred to the conflict as an “open war”, adding to concerns about regional stability as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran engulfs the Middle East and beyond. Continue reading...

Mar 15, 2026 - World

Democrat says Congress ‘doing nothing’ may embolden president to attack countries such as Cuba and North KoreaDemocratic US senator Cory Booker has criticized both his own political party as well as its Republican counterpart for being “feckless” in ceding congressional war powers to Donald Trump, saying that their decision could embolden the president to unilaterally attack Cuba, North Korea and other countries.“I’m going to be one of those Democrats [who] say I think both parties have been feckless in allowing the growth of the power of the presidency,” Booker said on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. Continue reading...

Mar 15, 2026 - World

Ballots in 35,000 villages, towns and cities will be closely watched for signals about party strategies and alliancesFrance has begun voting in the first round of municipal elections, seen as crucial a test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election.The vote for mayors and councillors in 35,000 villages, towns and cities across France is focused on local issues including security, housing and refuse collection and is very different from national elections. Continue reading...