Chief-Exec.com

Iran conflict turns shipping market into ‘wild west’
The conflict in the Middle East has turned the container shipping sector into a “wild west”, with carriers adding thousands of dollars in extra charges and dumping containers at far-flung ports, according to shipping customers and removal companies. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following Iranian strikes and fears that Houthi rebels will resume their attacks in the Red Sea have prompted shipping lines to suspend bookings and reroute goods. Fire as a result of debris from aerial strikes on Sunday over the main hub port in Dubai, Jebel Ali, has triggered further cancellations and congestion at safer ports. The largest shipping groups, including MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd, have told customers they reserve the right to invoke a 19th-century rule to allow them to leave containers at the nearest available port at their client’s expense. Charges for shipping containers, meanwhile, have risen as much as fourfold on certain routes thanks to war-risk insurance costs and fuel surcharges. Financial Times, March 18

Europe must prepare for drone strikes by terrorists and criminals, warns Zelenskyy
European nations should prepare for attacks by non-state actors including criminal networks, terror groups and lone attackers as drone technology advances, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned. The Ukrainian president said it was no longer just “a wealthy madman like Putin” who could afford mass attacks as he demonstrated the latest technology to British MPs and peers. Zelenskyy said the regimes in Moscow and Tehran were “brothers in hatred”, with Russia using Iranian-designed Shahed drones, as well as its own variants of them, to attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine. His UK visit came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the west must not “lose focus” on Ukraine amid concerns that the Iran conflict had revived Russia’s ailing economy by increasing oil revenue and Kyiv could miss out on air defence systems being deployed to the Middle East instead. The Guardian, March 17

Suspicions grow that China is exploiting FOI laws to gather UK security data
British officials are concerned that China is exploiting the UK’s freedom of information legislation to collate unclassified data that risks revealing sensitive information. Government figures believe they have detected a pattern of requests relating to the UK’s defence and national security, raising suspicions that Beijing may be behind a significant proportion of them, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, the flagship transparency legislation introduced by former prime minister Tony Blair in 2000, those submitting requests are obliged to give their real name and a correspondence address. In practice, however, proof of identity is not required and the conditions are often overlooked by government bodies, making it difficult to analyse the true origins of requests. Financial Times, March 18

Cuba restores electricity network, vows 'unbreakable resistance' to US pressure
Cuba's leader on Tuesday said the US would face "unbreakable resistance" if it tries to take over the impoverished island nation, as communist authorities scrambled to fully restore electricity across the country. Cuba's government is under increasingly crushing pressure, with Washington enforcing an oil blockade and openly stating it wants to end the nearly seven-decade-old US standoff with the one-party communist state. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba's decision announced this week to let exiles invest and own businesses did not go far enough to allow free-market reforms that the Trump administration demands. "What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It's not going to fix it. So they've got some big decisions to make," Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of the country's ruling party, told reporters at the White House. President Donald Trump, who has heaped pressure on Cuba's communist government, said on Monday he would "take" Cuba, adding: "We'll be doing something with Cuba very soon." But his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel was defiant in the face of Washington's threats. France 24, March 18

AI chatbots can help abusers stalk and harass women, Refuge warns
AI chatbots can help stalkers target and harass women, a charity has warned. Chatbots helped a potential stalker who wanted to harass a victim without their knowledge, according to Refuge. The tools also gave advice on how to evade police investigations. Refuge declined to name the chatbots for legal reasons. Emma Pickering, the head of technology-facilitated abuse at Refuge, said: “Chatbots have given really harmful information [when we] asked things such as: ‘How do we stalk someone without them knowing?’ ‘How do we send harmful posts without it being traced back to us?’ They’ve given us information and they’ve even gone further, saying: ‘Have you thought about sending from an obscure email address and getting a burner phone so it won’t come back to your mobile?’” Pickering said that survivors of abuse are reporting that “perpetrators have been able to put together quite a package of harm … monitoring them, tracking them” using the chatbots. The research is part of a report from the universities of Durham and Swansea called “Invisible No More”, which details how chatbots are being used to facilitate violence against women. The Times, March 18

Teens sue Musk's xAI over Grok's pornographic images of them
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is facing a lawsuit from teenagers who say the company facilitated child pornography by allowing the creation of sexually explicit images of them. The lawsuit against xAI was filed on Monday in a federal California court by three young women whose images and videos were altered by a Grok user without their knowledge to show them nude or in otherwise overtly sexual ways. Grok is a chatbot developed by xAI and hosted on Musk's social media platform X. xAI did not respond to a request for comment made via its parent company. The legal action is part of the fallout since last year's controversial release of new Grok features that X called "spicy" mode. Lawyers for the young women said Grok's ability to alter images and video had been created and released by xAI solely to drive use of the chatbot and X. They likened the way images of the young women were changed to "a rag doll brought to life through the dark arts". "xAI - and its founder Elon Musk - saw a business opportunity," the complaint says. "They knew Grok could produce such results, including by using the images and videos of children, and publicly released it anyway." The young women are seeking unspecified damages, as well as an immediate order barring Grok from creating such images. BBC news, March 16

Morocco awarded Afcon title after CAF overturns result
Morocco have been declared the winners of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after the Confederation of African Football overturned the result of the final following Senegal's controversial walk-off. Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in the final on 18 January in a match which was overshadowed when the Senegalese players refused to play after the hosts were awarded a stoppage-time penalty with the match goalless. Following a delay of about 17 minutes, the players did eventually return and Brahim Diaz's penalty was saved before Senegal's Pape Gueye scored an extra-time winner. However, that result has now been overturned after a decision by an appeal board at African football's governing body. A statement from Caf said that Senegal is "declared to have forfeited the final match" with the "result of the match being recorded as 3-0 in favour" of Morocco. The Senegalese Football Federation said it would appeal against Caf's decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, calling it "an unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable decision which brings discredit to African football". BBC news, March 17

US embassy in Iraq hit by drone strikes
A drone and rocket attack targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early on Tuesday. Black smoke was seen rising after an explosion in the embassy complex, as well as air defences intercepting another drone. The strikes came hours after air defences thwarted an earlier rocket attack at the embassy and a drone sparked a fire at a luxury hotel frequented by foreign diplomats in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. Iraq’s interior ministry initially said that a “projectile” fell on the roof of the luxury al-Rasheed Hotel, before later clarifying it was a drone. It did not specify whether the building itself was the target. “The incident caused no casualties or material damage,” it added. The Times, March 17

Oil prices jump
The price of oil jumped more than five per cent on Tuesday as several countries pushed back against US President Donald Trump's demand that they help secure the key Strait of Hormuz, while Iran targeted crude-producing neighbours. At around 06.15 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 5.16 per cent at $98.32 a barrel while Brent Crude also rose above five per cent before easing back. Meanwhile, a new drone strike hit the Fujairah oil complex on the UAE's east coast on Tuesday causing a fire but no injuries, local authorities said. The facility, which sits on the Gulf of Oman and enables the UAE to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for some exports, was already hit on Monday. France 24, March 17

Starmer distances UK from Iran war as EU leaders rule out sending warships
Keir Starmer has insisted that the UK will not be drawn into the wider war in the Middle East as European leaders ruled out sending warships to the strait of Hormuz. In his clearest signal yet of the UK’s divergence from Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, the prime minister said he would stand firm in the face of US pressure despite the decision being “difficult, there’s no hiding that”. As concerns mounted at home over US demands for the British military to help keep shipping lanes open, he said: “While taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war.” Despite threats from the US president that Nato faces “a very bad future” if members fail to help reopen the vital waterway, European leaders underlined Washington’s isolation as Germany and Italy said they had no plans to send ships. Australia, France and Japan have taken a similar position. This drew a further rebuke from Trump, who singled out Starmer’s failure to provide minesweepers to the Middle East, saying it was terrible and that he was not happy with his close ally. The Guardian, March 16

UK drone interceptor start-up in funding talks at $1bn-plus valuation
The British defence start-up Cambridge Aerospace is in talks to raise new funding for its interceptor systems at a more than $1bn valuation at a time when the Iran war has put air defence in focus. Cambridge Aerospace, which launched in 2024 and is chaired by former UK defence minister Grant Shapps, is speaking with investors about raising about $200mn, according to people familiar with the matter. An investment round topping a $1bn valuation, which has not been finalised and could still shift, would herald a steep rise after the start-up raised funding from Spark Capital at a $400mn valuation last year. Led by founder and chief executive Steven Barrett, a Cambridge professor, the start-up is among a group of emerging companies focused on developing cheaper methods of drone and missile interception. The war in the Middle East has underlined the cost asymmetry of firing expensive missiles from air-defence systems such as the US-made Patriots to neutralise Iran’s cheap Shahed drones, the same weapons Russia has used in its war against Ukraine. Financial Times, March 17

Chancellor vows to stop UK tech from 'drifting abroad'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told the BBC she wants to stop top British technology firms and scientists "drifting abroad" to make money. She said she wants "the pattern to end", adding that the government was investing £2.5bn in quantum computing and artificial intelligence. At a lecture to business leaders in London later on Tuesday, she will say this investment as well as closer ties with the EU and greater regional powers will help boost sluggish economic growth. The Conservatives said the government "wanted to row back on Brexit" and criticised it for "blaming anyone but themselves for their economic failures". Many tech firms that start in the UK end up moving their businesses overseas, often to the US. Some of the suggested reasons for this are poor investment from the UK government and pension funds; the perceived weakness of the London Stock Exchange; and better tax breaks elsewhere. Speaking to the BBC at the National Quantum Computing Centre in Oxfordshire, Reeves said her UK growth plan showed the benefits of stability and a "strategic and active state". BBC news, March 17