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The conflict between Iran, the US, and Israel has taken a severe turn with a series of coordinated attacks on Iranian universities and infrastructure. A research center at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran was recently bombed, leaving it in ruins. This attack is part of a larger pattern of civilian sites being targeted by the US and Israel. Over 30 universities have been impacted since the start of the war on February 28, according to Hossein Simaei Saraf, the Iranian minister of science, research, and technology. The attacks have not only damaged educational facilities but also research centers, including those working on domestically made satellites and infectious diseases. The Pasteur Institute in Tehran, a renowned center for vaccine development and biological products, was also attacked, sustaining significant damage and disrupting health services. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the damage and noted that no casualties were reported. In addition to educational and healthcare facilities, over 20 healthcare facilities have been targeted since March 1, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The attacks have also affected schools, houses, and businesses, resulting in over 2,000 deaths and widespread destruction. The economic sector has not been spared, with petrochemical and steel factories being destroyed in recent bombardments. The US and Israel have also targeted critical infrastructure, including power plants and water desalination plants, which are civilian targets protected under international law. The Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have vowed to retaliate and escalate attacks across the region. The situation has drawn international condemnation, with over 100 US legal experts expressing concerns about potential war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

The traditional No 9 striker, once a cornerstone of football, is becoming increasingly obsolete. The partnership of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke at Manchester United in the late 1990s exemplifies a bygone era when strikers were the main goal-scoring threats. Today, the Premier League's leading scorers are more likely to be wingers, No 10s, or false 9s.Data from Opta shows that strikers scored 41.6% of the Premier League's goals two decades ago, compared to 25.9% this season. The decline of traditional center-forwards is further evidenced by the decrease in standout individual striker performances. Between 2007 and 2012, there were four seasons with 10 or more hat-tricks by center-forwards; in the past nine seasons, this threshold has been met only once.The England national team faces a significant challenge with Harry Kane, their all-time leading scorer, approaching retirement. Beyond Kane, the options are limited, with Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin failing to impress. The lack of quality strikers raises concerns about England's future prospects.Experts attribute the decline of the No 9 to the redefinition of the role and the increased emphasis on possession-based football. Emile Heskey notes that the traditional striker's job has changed, with more focus on creating space for other players. René Meulensteen argues that specialized striker training is essential to develop No 9s, but such training has been neglected in favor of more generalized sessions.However, there is hope that a successful team utilizing a lethal strike partnership could revive demand for traditional No 9s. Dean Whitehouse believes that if a manager starts winning trophies with paired strikers, other teams will follow suit, and the demand for No 9s will return. The abundance of technically gifted players, fostered by initiatives like Gareth Southgate's push for smaller-sided games at youth level, may yet lead to a resurgence of the traditional No 9.

Iranian drones have launched a series of attacks on Kuwait's oil infrastructure, resulting in severe material damage and posing a significant threat to oil supplies that are already strained due to the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.The drone strikes, which took place on Sunday, happened just hours before members of the Opec+ group of major global oil suppliers convened to discuss strategies for increasing output, despite Iran's effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that they had targeted petrochemical plants in Kuwait, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation reported damage and fires at its subsidiaries, including at the Shuwaikh oil sector complex, which houses the oil ministry and KPC headquarters.The attacks on Kuwait's oil infrastructure are part of a broader escalation of tensions in the Middle East, with Iranian drones also reportedly striking an office complex for Kuwaiti government ministries and two power and water desalination plants.The conflict has led to the largest disruption to oil supplies in history, with the price of Brent crude surging more than 50% since the start of the year to a peak of $119.50 a barrel in March. It is currently trading at about $109 a barrel.The disruptions have had a significant impact on energy costs for consumers, with the average price of a litre of unleaded petrol in the UK reaching 154.45p on Sunday, and the average US fuel price passing $4 a gallon for the first time in four years.Opec+ members have agreed in principle to raise output by 206,000 barrels a day in May, but the agreement remains largely symbolic while Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade artery through which about 20% of the world's total crude oil passes.

The modern workplace is witnessing a surge in trends that prioritize flexibility and work-life balance over traditional productivity. Microshifting, coffee badging, and bare minimum Mondays are just a few examples of how employees are redefining what it means to work.Microshifting involves breaking the traditional 9-to-5 workday into short, flexible bursts of activity, allowing for a better work-life balance. Coffee badging, on the other hand, involves taking time out of the workday to protest an employer's in-office requirements by driving into the office, swiping a badge, having a coffee, and then taking more time out to drive back home.These trends are not new, and they have been referred to by other names in the past, such as 'taking the piss'. Other trends, like quiet quitting, career cushioning, quiet vacationing, task masking, quiet cracking, and resenteeism, all share a common trait: avoiding work.The question remains, whatever happened to actually working? When a company hires an employee to do a job, there is an implied assumption that the employee will actually do their job. However, these trends suggest that employees are not necessarily doing their jobs, and yet, they still expect to receive their paychecks.Employers often accuse employees of stealing money from them when they avoid work, but rather than addressing the issue directly, they often terminate the employee quietly. The article concludes that these trends have been beneficial for academics, journalists, HR teams, and workplace experts, but most employers see right through them.In a slowing economy and softening job market, the demand for workers with the right attitude, who work hard, display discipline, and get their jobs done, will always be strong. People who succeed are not microshifting, coffee badging, or working bare minimum Mondays; they are working, actually working.

When screenwriter Daisy Goodwin examined Prince Albert’s habit of selecting Victoria’s bonnets, she wondered whether the gesture signified tender devotion or a more unsettling dominance. The question becomes the backbone of her new stage drama, which recasts the iconic Victorian marriage as a case of coercive control rather than a model partnership. Set in the waning days of Victoria’s reign at Windsor, the production opens with Amanda Boxer portraying an aging monarch—a weary, self‑pitying figure cloaked in black bombazine. Her character, a compulsive diarist, fears that her candid journals might be released after her death, a concern that fuels the play’s tension. Designer Alex Berry creates a slanted, reflective ceiling that acts like a distorted mirror of memory, underscoring Victoria’s claim that her diaries are “the only place where I could be completely honest”. Yet the presence of Albert, played by Rowan Polonski, suggests that even these private pages were never truly safe. Jessica Rhodes brings youthful Victoria to life, initially buoyant as she waltzes with Albert. The romance quickly darkens as Albert’s behavior shifts to manipulating her ambitions and curbing her joy. He pressures her into motherhood—she dismisses the children as “invincibly tedious”—and intrudes on her official duties, from speeches to industrial tours. In a biting line, she accuses him of making “the monarchy so boring that no one was awake enough to start a revolution”. The play’s narrative moves from teasing banter to overt control, with intimate moments on the sofa devolving into fierce arguments over gifts (“You gave me a brooch made of teeth, Albert!”). A poignant scene where Victoria reads from Jane Eyre hints at a gothic destiny that Goodwin imagines Albert may have plotted. While Goodwin’s empathy clearly leans toward Victoria, the production also raises contemporary expectations of royalty, suggesting that public service—not romantic idealisation—should define modern monarchs. Director Sophie Drake’s brisk pacing navigates the play’s contradictions, ultimately unsettling the long‑held myth of a contented, untroubled royal household. The production runs at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury until 9 May, offering audiences a fresh, critical lens on a celebrated historical partnership.

Iran carried out the execution of Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Baniamerian on Saturday morning, following a Supreme Court ruling that confirmed their death sentences for membership in the outlawed People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and involvement in "armed rebellion" through multiple terrorist acts. The two men were hanged after a Revolutionary Court sentenced them in late 2024, a case that underscores Tehran's intensified crackdown on dissent amid the US‑Israeli war on Iran that began on February 28. This latest execution follows the hanging of four other PMOI members—Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour and Pouya Ghobadi—on March 30‑31, bringing the total number of executed opposition figures to six since the conflict escalated. The PMOI condemned the hangings in an April 2 statement, labeling Tehran's actions a "futile" attempt to suppress opposition and warning that such brutality will only fuel the resolve of Iran’s youth to challenge the regime. Human‑rights groups have also decried the executions. Amnesty International reported that the men were allegedly tortured while in custody and transferred to an undisclosed location shortly before their deaths. The organization warned that additional protesters—some sentenced to death for participation in the January anti‑government demonstrations—could face execution after being moved from Ghezel Hesar prison. Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy, said, "It is unconscionable that even as the population endures mass bereavement from aerial bombardments, the Islamic Republic continues to weaponize the death penalty to eradicate dissenting voices and terrorise its people." The wave of hangings also includes the case of Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian‑Swedish national convicted of spying for Israel, whose execution sparked outrage in Stockholm and the European Union. Another individual convicted of acting on behalf of Israel and the United States during the protests was executed on Thursday. These developments occur against a backdrop of intensified military confrontations, with Iran reporting the downing of U.S. aircraft and ongoing aerial bombardments by Israel and the United States, further complicating the nation’s internal security landscape. International observers warn that the continued use of capital punishment as a tool of political repression not only violates human‑rights norms but also risks deepening regional instability as the war persists.

When President Donald Trump inaugurated Operation Epic Fury with Israel on 28 February, his administration outlined broad goals: neutralise Iran’s missile programme, cripple its navy and prevent a nuclear breakout. Within a month those objectives morphed, expanded and at times directly contradicted each other. On 29 March, aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that Iran had accepted most of Washington’s 15‑point demand list, conveyed through Pakistan, and even shipped oil to the United States as a goodwill gesture. In the same interview he floated the idea of seizing Kharg Island—the hub for 90 % of Iran’s oil exports—stating, “maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options.” The following day, 30 March, Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States was in “serious discussions with a new, more reasonable regime” in Tehran and claimed “great progress.” He simultaneously warned that, absent a swift deal, the U.S. would destroy Iran’s power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and even its desalination facilities, and would force the Strait of Hormuz to reopen immediately. By 31 March, with U.S. gasoline prices climbing above $4 per gallon, Trump hinted at a rapid withdrawal, saying the U.S. would leave Iran “within two or three weeks.” He told European allies that if they needed oil or gas they could “go up through the Hormuz Strait” on their own, and rebuked the United Kingdom for not standing up for itself. On 1 April, Trump claimed on Truth Social that Iran’s new leadership had requested a U.S. cease‑fire, but only after the Hormuz Strait was “open, free, and clear.” He reiterated that the war was “not about oil,” yet threatened to blast Iran’s electric grid “back to the stone ages.” Iran’s foreign ministry dismissed the cease‑fire request as “false and baseless,” and the Revolutionary Guard warned the strait remained under its control. Following a U.S.–Israeli strike that demolished a bridge between Tehran and Karaj on 2 April, Trump posted that the next targets would be “bridges, then electric power plants,” signalling an escalation despite earlier talk of withdrawal. Finally, on 3 April, he suggested that reopening Hormuz and seizing Iranian oil could become a “gusher for the world,” a stark reversal of his earlier assertion that the conflict had nothing to do with oil. These rapid shifts illustrate a pattern of policy flip‑flopping that complicates diplomatic efforts, fuels market uncertainty, and raises questions about the strategic coherence of the U.S. approach to the Iran war.

Cuba’s government declared a humanitarian amnesty for 2,010 prisoners ahead of Easter’s Holy Week, a decision it says follows a careful review of each inmate’s conduct, health, and time served. The announcement, made by state media on Thursday, represents the second such amnesty this year and the fifth large‑scale pardon since 2011, bringing the total to more than 11,000 released individuals. While Havana officially denies acting under U.S. pressure, the timing aligns with what analysts describe as the most aggressive Washington campaign against the island in decades. The move comes a day after Cuba’s top diplomat in Washington invited the United States to assist in overhauling the island’s “crippled” economy, part of ongoing talks that have yet to produce concrete outcomes. U.S. officials, including President Trump’s administration, have repeatedly called for a change of government in the communist‑run state, with the president even musing about “taking” the island. Yet recent diplomatic exchanges suggest a nuanced shift: both sides have held talks, and scholars note that the amnesty could be a tangible sign of progress, however modest. University of Miami Cuban‑studies chair Michael Bustamante told AFP, “It seems not far‑fetched to think that this is a sign that some of the conversation between both governments is advancing… To where? Unclear.” He added that the political significance will depend on the profile of those released. The Cuban presidency did not disclose the names or crimes of the pardoned individuals, but indicated the group includes young people, women, and inmates over 60 who are slated for early release within the next six to twelve months. Foreign nationals and Cuban expatriates are also among those granted clemency. Importantly, the amnesty excludes anyone convicted of murder, sexual assault, drug‑related offenses, theft, illegal livestock slaughter, or crimes against state authority. Earlier in March, the government freed 51 prisoners as a “good‑will” gesture toward the Vatican, which often mediates between Washington and Havana. The current pardon is framed as part of the “humanitarian legacy of the Revolution” and is presented as customary practice during Holy Week. The release coincides with Russia’s announcement of a second oil tanker bound for Cuba, following a recent easing of the U.S. oil blockade that allowed the first shipment. Bustamante speculated that the timing may not be coincidental, suggesting a possible link between U.S. policy shifts and Cuba’s diplomatic overtures. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban‑American critic of Havana, reiterated on Fox News that Cuba’s economic woes cannot be solved without political reform, warning that the island faces “a lot of trouble.”

President Donald Trump escalated rhetoric on Thursday, stating that the United States has yet to begin a full‑scale campaign against Iran’s remaining infrastructure and hinting that bridges and electric power plants could be next targets. The comment followed the release of video showing a U.S. strike on the newly completed B1 bridge that connects Tehran to Karaj, an attack that Iran reports killed eight people and injured 95. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the strike on civilian infrastructure, describing it as evidence of the “defeat and moral collapse” of the aggressor. In a statement posted on X, he warned that such attacks would not force Iran to surrender. The conflict, now entering its fifth week, has begun to ripple through regional and global markets. Instability around the Strait of Hormuz—a vital conduit for oil and gas—has prompted nations to scramble for alternative shipping routes. Satellite images this week captured smoke over Iran’s Qeshm Island, underscoring the heightened risk to infrastructure near the strategic waterway. Amid stalled negotiations with Iran’s new leadership, Trump’s intensified language comes as the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote on a resolution that could authorize member states to use “defensive means” to keep the strait open. Araghchi warned that any provocative action in the Council would only worsen the situation. Iranian media have begun listing potential retaliation targets, naming major bridges in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan as possible future strike points. The semi‑official Fars News Agency highlighted these crossings as vulnerable following the Karaj bridge attack. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for recent strikes on U.S.-linked industrial sites in the Gulf, including steel facilities in Abu Dhabi and aluminium plants in Bahrain. The IRGC warned that if attacks on Iranian industries continue, “the next response will be much more painful” and will focus on the occupier’s core infrastructure. Health infrastructure has also suffered. Iran’s Health Ministry reported that U.S. and Israeli raids severely damaged the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a key research center for diseases such as cholera and COVID‑19. Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour called the strike “a direct assault on international health security.” WHO Director‑General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed the condemnation, noting that the institute is now unable to deliver health services. The WHO has documented more than 20 attacks on Iranian healthcare facilities since the start of March. In a separate claim, Iranian officials said air defenses downed a second U.S. F‑35 fighter jet over central Iran, suggesting the pilot’s survival was unlikely. The United States has not responded to the allegation. Israel’s military reported a fresh barrage of Iranian missiles, which triggered air‑defence alerts and caused damage to homes, vehicles, and a train station in Tel Aviv. The widening hostilities, combined with threats to critical energy and health infrastructure, highlight the growing regional volatility and its potential to disrupt global markets.