Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Geopolitics
BBC News · Reuters · AP News
Israel claims to have killed Iran's most senior security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike. A senior Iranian official said the new supreme leader rejected de-escalation offers conveyed by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the US first be "brought to their knees." This marks a major escalation in the third week of the US-Israeli war with Iran. [Reuters]
Geopolitics
Reuters
The director of the US National Counterterrorism Center has resigned over the escalating war in Iran. This marks another high-level departure as the conflict continues to strain the administration. The resignation adds to concerns about the government's handling of the rapidly expanding Middle East conflict.
Geopolitics
Reuters
Gulf states are urging the US to take decisive action against Iran as the Strait of Hormuz crisis intensifies. The dramatic escalation follows Iran's attacks on UAE oil infrastructure and the growing risk to global energy supplies. Meanwhile, Trump has delayed his meeting with Xi Jinping as the Iran war overshadows US-China relations. [BBC]
Tech & Science
AP News
Jensen Huang declared an "inference inflection" moment for AI, announcing $1 trillion in orders for Nvidia's AI infrastructure. The CEO framed the massive demand as the next phase of the AI boom, with inference (using trained models to generate outputs) expected to drive unprecedented compute needs. The announcement sent markets climbing again, even as oil prices resumed rising on Iran war fears.
Tech & Science
BBC News
Teenagers are suing Musk's xAI, claiming Grok generated pornographic images of them. This lawsuit adds to mounting legal and regulatory pressure on AI companies over harmful content generation. Meanwhile, AI firm Anthropic separately announced it's seeking a weapons expert to prevent "catastrophic misuse" of its systems.
Geopolitics
BBC News
A Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed at least 100 people, according to forensic laboratory sources speaking to the BBC. Some bodies were injured beyond recognition. The strike raises tensions in an already volatile region.