At least three people have been killed, including two US service members, in a rocket attack in Iraq.

When world output growth slips to the lower half of that range — as it did in 2019 — the risks of global recession need to be taken seriously, writes Stephen S Roach

Israel’s founders advocated a universalism of ‘complete equality’, whereas its current leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has a narrow agenda, says Mark Leonard.

It's Stokes' fifth club in two years.

As the great and the good congregate in Davos this week, the mood is somewhat more sombre than we have seen for some time.

Tensions between Iran and the United States dramatically escalated after a top Iranian military commander was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in early January.

We are confronted by a US presidential second-term election cycle. We all must contend too with various interests. Do we have in play a version of ‘operation boot’? The 1952 US/UK regime-change operation in Iran. And do people regionally also view the late, recently murdered Major General Qasem Soleimani as an Iranian Che Quevara? Would Iran’s supreme Ayatollah be viewed as an Iranian Fidel Castro? How annoying for a rightist US administration: a Cuba in the Middle East. How much more death and devastation will flow out of our fossil-fuel dependency and the military powers of the main players, the chief one being the US?

Both countries cite historical aggression for their ongoing enmity, but there is no real justification for the hostility, beyond chest-beating, says Carl Bildt

We have little control over global events that threaten our energy security — so this State must take initiatives here at home, including cutting back on the energy we use, writes Paul Deane.

Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was shot down “unintentionally” by Iran on Wednesday shortly aftertake-off.

The US still imports the kind of crude pumped in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and any disruption to the region’s oil exports would drive prices up at American pumps, writes Julian Lee.

Iran has admitted its military accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane amid heightened tensions with the United States over the killing of senior Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

Before the US assassinated its most senior general, Iran had contended with protests at home and resentment for its presence in Iraq. Not anymore, writes Abbas Milani.

There must — mustn’t there? — have been someone in the room who asked questions when the US president, Donald Trump, and his advisors met to discuss the proposal to kill Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani.

The US government's killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani is the latest and most dramatic development in the ongoing proxy conflict between the US and Iran, writes Luca Trenta.

European shares slipped from near-record highs after the US airstrike in Iraq that killed a top Iranian commander increased tensions in the Middle East

Geopolitically, there is much to be concerned about at the moment, suggesting the first year of the 2020s will likely have oversized impact on the following nine, says James Stavridis.

The US has banned the Chinese company on the basis that it will use its hardware to spy, so it should do the same to the American social media giants, says Ngaire Woods.

Europe is arming itself for a more lawless world of trade and the bloc’s sights are on the US.

An angry mob killed a 16-year-old and strung up the body by its feet from a traffic pole after the teenager shot and killed six people, including four anti-government protesters, Iraqi officials said.

Iran did not deserve punitive sanctions when Mr Trump re-imposed them, because it had not violated the terms of a nuclear deal, writes Djavad Salehi-Isfahani

Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south with an estimated 50 billion barrels of crude oil, its president said.

“Our competitors have become masters at exploiting the seams between peace and war,” the General wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.

The current US administration’s staunch support of Israel could be an advantage in pressuring the beleaguered Palestinians to accept a deal, says French diplomat Gerard Araud.

While most non-proliferation and test-ban treaties remain, the 1987 intermediate range pact has collapsed and the 2015 Iran deal is on the brink, says Bennett Ramberg

Crude oil prices will rise to $70 a barrel next year, a leading consultancy predicts.

The key to deterrence, conflict management, and de-escalation in the cyber realm is to acknowledge that we all still have a lot to learn, writes Joseph Nye Jr

If US intelligence agencies do not toe Donald Trump’s line, they will become public enemy number one for his base, says Kent Harrington

So that’s Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

The Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War 2 crashed into targets, but the modern use of suicide-bombing began when a boy of 13 sacrificed himself during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, says Frank MacGabhann.

Iran’s supreme leader will not meet US President Donald Trump unless Washington halts its “economic terrorism” targeting the country, its foreign minister has said.

The US monitors everyone, apart from Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, so this exception for a militarily ambition nation is a ‘dereliction of duty’, writes Aram Roston

Any hasty foreign-troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would lead to a fiasco similar to the Soviet retreat from the country in the 1980s and would result in chaos, says Amin Saikal

Oil prices rebounded slightly from big falls in recent sessions, but Brent crude remained near seven-month lows around $60 a barrel due to escalating trade tensions between China and the US.

There is hardly a more politically-charged fulcrum of international affairs in the world than the Straits of Hormuz in the Middle East.

After US President Donald Trump walked away from the Iranian nuclear deal, which closed the door on diplomacy, his administration’s pretext of freeing Iranians from authoritarianism is similar in tone to previous US war propaganda in this region.

Access to global networks is a great source of power but it must be used with responsibility and not be taken for granted, write Anne-Marie Slaughter and Elina Ribakova

Even if you believe that the Falklands/Islas Malvinas are as British as Finchley, the memory of the 1982 sinking of the ARA General Belgrano and the 323 lives needlessly taken must be disturbing. Britain has, since then, engaged in several conflicts that might be termed legacies of empire or at least the psychological legacy of empire. It may be on the cusp of doing so again, this time with Iran.

The tension between the UK and Iran over the seizures of oil tankers in recent weeks pushed the price of oil higher, and helped boost the shares of major oil companies.

If, as is expected, Boris Johnson becomes the new Prime Minister this week, he will find himself engaged in a political fire-fight almost before he has even got his feet under the desk at 10 Downing Street.

The race to become the UK’s next prime minister is challenging our usual assumptions about what is important when people choose a leader. The rule book has been thrown out of the window.

The price of Brent crude jumped 2% to over $63.20 a barrel and any further escalation could send prices higher.

So that’s Thursday nearly wrapped up. Here are some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Beset by Brexit, there is a national impulse now to self-inflict the most damage at the worst moment.