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Scott Lucas

Professor of International Politics, University of Birmingham
Scott Lucas became Professor of International Politics in 2014, having been on the staff of the University of Birmingham since 1989 and a Professor of American Studies since 1997.

He began his career as a specialist in US and British foreign policy, but his research interests now also cover current international affairs – especially North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran – New Media, and Intelligence Services.

A professional journalist since 1979, Professor Lucas is the founder and editor of EA WorldView, a leading website in daily news and analysis of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and the wider Middle East, as well as US foreign policy.

Global Geopolitics Series

Why are the US and Israel not on the same page over how to deal with Iran? Expert Q&A

May 30, 2025 12:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The US president, Donald Trump, claimed on May 28 to have personally stopped Israel from attacking Irans nuclear facilities. When asked if hed intervened during a phone call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin...

Gaza deal: what it means for peace in the Middle East – expert Q&A

Jan 17, 2025 14:31 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

After 15 months of bitter conflict on the Gaza Strip, a ceasefire deal has been agreed which promises an end to the fighting and will allow for the access of food and other desperately needed humanitarian aid to the...

Who is Syria’s new prime minister – and what will he do?

Dec 16, 2024 05:06 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Dressed in a modest grey suit and tie with a light blue shirt, bald and bearded, 41-year-old Mohammed al-Bashir addressed his fellow Syrians on Tuesday from behind a desk in an empty conference room. Asking for stability...

Global Geopolitics Series

October 7 marks 12 months of escalation into the ‘forever war’ now engulfing the Middle East

Oct 08, 2024 12:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views

One year after Hamass mass killing of nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and abduction of 251 others, and almost a year into the Israeli retribution that has so far slain almost 42,000 in Gaza, there seems no...

How Israel-Gaza will affect the US election campaign

Aug 22, 2024 23:22 pm UTC| Insights & Views

As delegates assembled in Chicago for the start of the Democratic National Convention on August 19, something surreal was happening 6,000 miles away in Israel. In Tel Aviv, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken,...

Iran: meet the men – and women – lining up to contest the early presidential election

Jun 06, 2024 11:33 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The death in a helicopter crash of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, on May 19 has triggered a presidential election one year earlier than expected. Its a consequential moment in Iranian politics as many believed that...

Israel-Hamas war: will the US and Iran be drawn into a broader conflict? It's Tehran's move

Oct 31, 2023 09:17 am UTC| Insights & Views

Washington has sent a warning to Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about Iranian anti-US provocation in the Middle East. This has been going on sporadically for years, but from October 17 to October 25 there...

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Economy

India–US Trade Deal: Digital Tax Removal and $500 Billion Purchase Commitment Signal Major Policy Shift

India has agreed to remove its digital services tax and committed to purchasing more than $500 billion worth of American goods under a recent trade agreement with the United States, according to a White House fact sheet...

Asian Currencies Edge Higher as Dollar Retreats Ahead of Key U.S. Data

Most Asian currencies strengthened on Tuesday, tracking an overnight pullback in the U.S. dollar as its recent rebound lost momentum ahead of a busy week of key American economic data. While regional foreign exchange...

Japan Weighs Using Foreign Exchange Reserve Surplus to Fund Food Tax Cuts

Japans government is considering whether surplus funds from its massive foreign exchange reserves could be used to help finance planned cuts to the food sales tax, according to comments made Tuesday by Japanese Minister of...

Russia Condemns U.S. Sanctions as Cuba Faces Critical Fuel Crisis

Russia has warned that Cubas fuel situation has reached a critical point, blaming intensified U.S. sanctions for deepening the islands economic crisis and pledging continued solidarity with Havana and Caracas. Moscow also...

U.S. Stock Futures Steady as Investors Await Key Jobs and Inflation Data

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Monday evening as investors grew cautious ahead of key economic data releases later this week, following a mostly positive close on Wall Street. Futures tied to the SP 500 slipped...

Politics

Trump Administration Moves to Repeal EPA Climate Endangerment Finding

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to repeal a key Obama-era scientific determination that has long served as the legal foundation for federal regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions....

U.S. Issues New Shipping Guidance for Strait of Hormuz Amid Rising Iran Tensions

The United States has issued new guidance for commercial vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz, one of the worlds most critical maritime chokepoints for global oil and gas shipments, as tensions persist between...

Hong Kong Leader Defends 20-Year Sentence for Jimmy Lai

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday that media tycoon and prominent democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai deserved the 20-year prison sentence imposed by a court earlier this week, arguing that the punishment...

Trump Administration Plans Chip Tariff Exemptions for Big Tech Amid AI Data Center Push

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to exempt major technology companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft from upcoming tariffs on semiconductor chips, a move aimed at supporting...

U.S. Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to End TPS for Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua Migrants

A U.S. appeals court in California on Monday temporarily lifted a federal judges order that had blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal...

Science

SpaceX Pivots Toward Moon City as Musk Reframes Long-Term Space Vision

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed a significant shift in the companys near-term space exploration strategy, announcing that SpaceX is now prioritizing the development of a self-growing city on the Moon rather than focusing...

SpaceX Prioritizes Moon Mission Before Mars as Starship Development Accelerates

Elon Musks SpaceX is shifting its near-term space exploration strategy, choosing to prioritize a return to the Moon before pursuing missions to Mars, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar...

NASA and SpaceX Target Crew-11 Undocking From ISS Amid Medical Concern

NASA has confirmed that the agency, in coordination with SpaceX, is targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. Eastern Time (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, January 14, for the undocking of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International...

Neuralink Plans High-Volume Brain Implant Production and Fully Automated Surgery by 2026

Elon Musks brain-computer interface company Neuralink is preparing for a major expansion, announcing plans to begin high-volume production of its brain implant devices and transition to a fully automated surgical procedure...

Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator, Becomes 15th Leader of U.S. Space Agency

The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, making him the 15th leader in the agencys history. The confirmation, which took place on Wednesday, marks...

Technology

Salesforce Workforce Reduction Affects Fewer Than 1,000 Roles Amid Ongoing Restructuring

Salesforce has reportedly reduced its workforce by fewer than 1,000 employees earlier this month, according to a Business Insider report published on Monday. The report cited a person familiar with the matter, though...

Alphabet Plans Rare 100-Year Sterling Bond to Fund AI Expansion

Alphabet is preparing to issue a rare 100-year sterling bond as part of a broader multi-currency debt offering, marking a notable move to expand its long-term borrowing strategy to support growing investments in artificial...

Amazon Explores AI Content Marketplace With Media Publishers

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is reportedly in discussions with media publishers about launching a new artificial intelligence content marketplace designed to connect news organizations and digital content creators with companies...

Taiwan Says Moving 40% of Semiconductor Production to the U.S. Is Impossible

Taiwan has firmly rejected calls from the United States to relocate a large portion of its semiconductor manufacturing capacity, with senior officials stressing that the islands chip industry cannot be uprooted. Taiwan...

Samsung Electronics Shares Jump on HBM4 Mass Production Report

Samsung Electronics shares surged on Monday following reports that the South Korean tech giant is set to begin mass production of its next-generation HBM4 memory chips, a key component in artificial intelligence hardware....