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A top Iranian official has warned that the government is prepared for a long war with the US and signaled that it is willing to continue attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to convince Donald Trump to step back from the conflict.

The warning came in an exclusive CNN interview in Tehran with Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, who ruled out diplomacy for now and said the war would only end through economic pain – signaling a hardening of the government’s stance on day 10 of the conflict.

“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations – that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,” Kharazi told CNN on Monday.

AI company Anthropic filed suit against several federal agencies and officials after being labelled a supply chain risk to national security last week.

Anthropic has sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies after the Pentagon announced last week it would label the leading AI company as a threat to national security and ban the use of its products for defense purposes. In late February, Donald Trump said he would also ban the use of Anthropic’s products across other federal agencies.

In its filing, Anthropic alleged that the federal government’s moves to ban Anthropic go beyond a normal contract dispute and instead represent an “unlawful campaign of retaliation.” The company said its “reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack” given the government’s actions and sought to prevent the Trump administration from implementing the bans.

Anthropic said the supply chain-risk designation and messaging from the White House was already “jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars,” illegally ignored required procedures and overstepped presidential authority.

Novo Nordisk has agreed to sell its blockbuster Wegovy and Ozempic drugs through U.S. telehealth company Hims & Hers' platform, the Danish drugmaker said on Monday, ending a legal dispute that erupted last month.

The deal marks ‌a turnaround from February, when Novo sued Hims over a $49 compounded alternative to its Wegovy weight-loss pill.

Novo is grappling with telehealth firms offering cheaper compounded copycat versions of its obesity treatments.

In a college library lined with volumes on America's greatest presidents, six young men who voted for Donald Trump gathered to size up his second term. Their verdicts ranged from guarded approval to disappointment, reflecting growing tension in a demographic that helped propel Trump to victory in 2024.

While the students form a very small sample ​size, their mixed reviews - including criticism of what several called overly harsh immigration enforcement and frustration over rising prices - mirror a broader shift in national polling that shows the Republican president is losing ground with young men.

Public opinion polling suggests that this ‌softening of support, part of a broader unhappiness among Americans over Trump's policies, threatens Republicans' hopes of retaining their slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Analysts who track the youth vote told Reuters many young men report feeling little tangible improvement in their economic prospects since Trump returned to office in January 2025.

KEY POINTS

The U.S. government ordered non-essential diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia as the conflict broadened across the Middle East.

Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader, a choice that former CIA director has labeled as ‘unfortunate.’

Oil prices spiked above $110 per barrel before paring gains.

Some countries across Asia have announced measures to deal with the impact of soaring global energy costs caused by the US-Israel war with Iran, including capping petrol prices.

On Monday, crude oil surged above $100 a barrel on concerns about potential shortages due to prolonged disruption to Middle East energy supplies.

At the weekend, Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new Supreme Leader - a sign that hardliners remain in charge of the country - while some Gulf countries halted oil production and there were fresh airstrikes in the region.

Rapid advancements in AI have industry and political leaders warning of massive job displacement for white-collar workers. It could reshape U.S. politics.

Blue-collar workers have been at the center of political messaging for years. Politicians meet with waitresses at a diner to pitch raising the minimum wage, tour a factory to spotlight job growth or tell stories of their family’s hardscrabble bona fides while visiting cities like Detroit or Pittsburgh.

Lately, though, a different group has been getting more attention: white-collar professionals. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at the forefront of this development.

The Republican governor expressed concern in August that “some of these white-collar jobs … could end up being obsolete” due to advancements in AI. In September, he said the H-1B visa program was “especially galling” at a time when AI “is forecast to reduce a significant number of white-collar jobs.” And in November, he worried about predictions that AI is “going to really undercut a lot of jobs — a lot of white-collar jobs.”

Other officials are sounding the alarm, too, including Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as well as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

Visitors to the U.S. Capitol will now have a visible marker of the siege there on Jan. 6, 2021, and a reminder of the officers who fought and were injured that day.

Steps from the Capitol’s West Front and where the worst of the fighting occurred, workers quietly have installed a plaque honoring the officers, three years after it was required by law to be erected. The plaque was placed on the Senate side of the hallway because that chamber voted unanimously in January to install it after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had delayed putting it up.

“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021,” the plaque says. “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

President of Antwerp court says international drug crime is posing danger to social stability in Belgium

International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.

Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.

“The amount of money that is involved – to influence people, to corrupt people and to bribe – it is so big that it is really a danger for the stability of our society,” he told the Guardian in an interview at his court.

US among three countries so far backing measure triggered by Middle East war, according to reports

G7 finance ministers are preparing to discuss the release of emergency oil reserves, according to reports, after the US-Israel war with Iran sent the price of crude above $100 (£75) for the first time since 2022.

The ministers will discuss the release of the reserves in a call coordinated by the International Energy Agency (IEA), according to a report from the Financial Times.

The emergency meeting would take place at 8.30am New York time to discuss the impact of the Iran war, the FT reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war.

Great Britain had 6,999 gigawatt hours (GWh) of fossil gas stored on Saturday, according to figures from National Gas, which owns and operates the gas national transmission system. This compares with 9,105 GWh a year earlier.

Maximum capacity is 12 days of gas, and current storage levels equate to under two days of reserves, leading to concerns that Great Britain could run out of gas if the crisis in the Middle East escalates further.