As Google takes on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic in the artificial intelligence market, company’s AI unit, DeepMind, has hired Jasjeet Sekhon as its new chief strategy officer. Sekhon will work directly with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis to drive the company’s AI innovation and R&D efforts. He has previously held professorships at some of the world’s top universities, including Harvard; University of California, Berkeley; and most recently as a data and political science professor at Yale. Sekhon announced he is joining Google DeepMind in posts on X, formerly Twitter and LinkedIn. “I’m excited to share that I will be joining @demishassabis and @GoogleDeepMind as Chief Strategy Officer! I feel a moral obligation to shepherd AGI into the world responsibly, benefiting everyone. I am looking forward to doing this with the team at DeepMind,” he wrote. Hassabis replied to his post, saying: Thrilled to welcome Jas Sekhon to @GoogleDeepMind as Chief Strategy Officer! The path to AGI requires exceptional thoughtfulness and foresight – Jas’ incredible experience as former Chief Scientist & Head of AI at Bridgewater makes him uniquely suited to advise us on the mission.

Jasjeet Sekhon’s ‘joining announcement’ on LinkedIn

I am excited to announce that I am joining Google DeepMind as Chief Strategy Officer, partnering directly with Demis Hassabis to lead cross-cutting strategic initiatives spanning research, commercialisation, and policy.AGI will be a world-changing technology without precedent, accelerating science, medicine, and human productivity in profound ways. I am committed to shepherding this technology responsibly to benefit everyone. I am joining Google DeepMind because I believe it is the frontier lab best positioned to develop AGI safely to empower humans.In 2023, I co-founded AIA Labs at Bridgewater alongside co-CIO Greg Jensen. I was drawn to developing AI for markets because markets are the ultimate game: they cannot be solved, and their benchmarks cannot be saturated. Today, AIA Labs manages billions of dollars and generates alpha in global markets. Being Bridgewater’s Chief Scientist and Head of AI has been a privilege, and I am honored to join the Bridgewater board.I am deeply grateful to everyone at Bridgewater, Yale, Berkeley, and people across the AI community who have made the last several years so meaningful. I look forward to my next chapter at Google DeepMind.”Google DeepMind co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis’ welcome note for Jasjeet SekhonHassabis welcomed Jasjeet Sekhon in a LinkedIn post. He wrote, “We started DeepMind back in 2010 because even then we believed Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would be the most transformative technology ever invented. It has the potential to be the ultimate tool to accelerate science and medicine, and improve productivity. The impact will be profound, but the challenges and complexities are also enormous.Thoughtfulness and foresight will be critical as we seek to steward this technology safely into the world to benefit everyone. As part of our contribution to that effort, I’m thrilled to welcome Jasjeet Sekhon to Google DeepMind as Chief Strategy Officer to partner with me on strategy cutting across research, commercialisation, policy and more. Jas is uniquely experienced for this role, having served as Chief Scientist and Head of AI at Bridgewater Associates, where he now joins the board.Super excited to be working with Jas to accelerate this important work at such a critical time for this technology.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has officially confirmed the schedule for India’s upcoming tour of Ireland, bringing clarity to what promises to be an exciting short series in June. The reigning T20 world champions will play a two-match T20I series in Belfast, marking their return to the Northern Irish city after nearly two decades.

BCCI confirms Team India’s T20I series schedule for Ireland tour

The announcement came from BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia on Saturday, following Cricket Ireland’s earlier confirmation of their summer calendar. Both matches will be played at the same venue in Belfast, with identical timings – making it a compact yet high-intensity series.

The fixtures are scheduled as follows:

• 1st T20I: June 26, 2026 (Friday) – 7:30 pm IST / 3:00 pm local time
• 2nd T20I: June 28, 2026 (Sunday) – 7:30 pm IST / 3:00 pm local time

What makes this tour particularly special is India’s return to Belfast after 19 years. While India have toured Ireland multiple times in recent years – specifically in 2018, 2022 and 2023 – all those matches were played in Malahide near Dublin. This time, Belfast gets its moment in the spotlight, adding a fresh dimension to the cricketing relationship between the two nations.

“Team India (Senior Men) will travel to Ireland for a two-match T20I series in June 2026. Having toured Ireland three times in the past eight years (2018, 2022 and 2023). This tour will mark India’s return to Belfast for the first time since 2007,” the BCCI stated in its official release.

For fans in Northern Ireland, this is a rare opportunity to witness top-tier international cricket, especially featuring a team as high-profile as India.

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Crucial series for both India and Ireland amid packed international calendar

Beyond the schedule, the timing of this series makes it significant for both teams – but for very different reasons.

For India, this will be their first T20I assignment after lifting the T20 World Cup 2026 title. Fresh off that triumph, the team will look to maintain momentum and fine-tune combinations ahead of a bigger challenge – a full-fledged white-ball tour of England starting in July. In many ways, the Ireland series acts as a bridge between tournaments, offering players a chance to stay in rhythm and experiment with strategies.

India’s calendar leading up to this series is already packed. Before heading to Ireland, they will host Afghanistan for a one-off Test and a three-match ODI series, which concludes on June 20. Shortly after the Ireland tour, the team will travel to England for a demanding series featuring five T20Is and three ODIs across multiple venues, including Lord;s.

For Ireland, however, the series represents something deeper – a fresh start. The team is currently in a transition phase following a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, where they exited in the group stage with just one win. Long-time T20I captain Paul Stirling has stepped down from leadership, opening the door for a new captain to take charge.

On the field, Ireland’s cricketing calendar is also expanding rapidly. The India series is part of a busy home summer that includes a one-off Test against New Zealand and a five-match ODI series against Afghanistan later in August. Additionally, the Irish side is strengthening its global presence with tours to Nepal and the UAE, along with a historic multi-format tour of Pakistan scheduled for early 2027.

Also READ: IPL 2026 – BCCI announces schedule for the first phase; RCB to take on SRH in the opening contest

United Airlines will cut more unprofitable flights over the next two quarters as it braces for a prolonged period of elevated jet fuel prices linked to the war involving Iran. However, strong travel demand continues to allow US carriers to raise fares.In a staff memo on Friday, chief executive Scott Kirby said the airline is preparing for oil prices to rise as high as $175 a barrel and remain above $100 through the end of 2027, as cited by Reuters.At those levels, United’s annual fuel bill could increase by about $11 billion, more than twice the profit the airline earned in its best year on record, he said.US airlines have so far managed to push through fare increases, supported by resilient travel demand and tighter capacity, even as the war has triggered a fresh fuel price shock for the industry.“There’s a good chance it won’t be that bad,” Kirby wrote of the airline’s fuel assumptions. “But… there isn’t much downside for us in preparing for that outcome.”The airlines had already begun trimming less profitable flights, including some midweek, Saturday and overnight services.Kirby said the airline would cancel about three percentage points of off-peak flying in the second and third quarters, targeting routes and time periods with weaker demand. United will also remove about one percentage point of capacity from its Chicago O’Hare hub and keep services to Tel Aviv and Dubai suspended, bringing the total reduction to roughly five percentage points of its planned capacity for the year.Kirby said the airline currently expects to restore its full schedule in the fall. The latest cuts build on his comments earlier this week that United would rather leave some demand unmet than continue operating routes that lose money if fuel prices remain high.Jet fuel prices have nearly doubled since late February, driving up costs across the airline industry and disrupting global flight patterns through reroutings and airspace restrictions.Major US airlines say strong travel demand is giving them room to raise fares, helping offset the impact of higher fuel costs. Capacity cuts such as those announced by United are also expected to support the industry’s pricing power.Rival Delta Air Lines, which raised its first-quarter revenue forecast this week, has said it also has flexibility to trim capacity if fuel prices remain elevated.US carriers are particularly exposed to fuel price swings because most do not hedge their fuel costs. In contrast, some European and Asian airlines use hedging strategies to cushion price shocks. Instead, US airlines have been relying on fare increases and tighter capacity to recover part of the additional expense.

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The United States is fighting Iran on the battlefield, and turning to its oil to keep the global economy afloat. As war in the Middle East chokes supplies through the Strait of Hormuz and sends prices soaring, the Donald Trump administration has begun easing restrictions on Iranian crude, allowing allies to buy the very resource that funds Tehran. For a president who came to power vowing to avoid “stupid” wars, the moment is especially fraught, a conflict he helped set in motion now risks slipping beyond his control, both on the battlefield and in its economic fallout.The move lays bare a stark war-time paradox — in trying to weaken Iran, Washington is being forced to rely on it.Though the move has been framed as “very temporary”, Mike Waltz, speaking at a CNN town hall, defended it as necessary to counter Iran’s strategy of driving up global energy prices.Even the administration’s messaging has been mixed — de-escalation in rhetoric, escalation in action. Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East, even as the United States deployed three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the region. Moreover, it attacked Iran’s nuclear facility Natanz again, even as Tehran has clearly warned against any attacks on its energy infrastructure, else bear oil shocks. Then what explains this sanctions shift?

World’s energy lifeline hit

Three weeks into the war with Iran, the United States is confronting a supply disruption of a scale few policymakers had anticipated. The near-total shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has choked one of the world’s most critical oil arteries, sending shockwaves through global markets.The crisis has been compounded by direct attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region. Strikes on Iran’s South Pars gasfield, part of the world’s largest natural gas reserve, were followed by missile attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facilities, causing extensive damage to one of the world’s biggest gas export hubs. Additional targets have included refineries in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, raising fears of a broader energy war. With some of these facilities expected to take three to five years to fully repair, the disruption is no longer temporary — it threatens to lock in a prolonged global supply crunch. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has surged to around $106 per barrel, up sharply from roughly $70 before the conflict, underscoring how rapidly the crisis has escalated and how tightly global prices are tied to Middle East stability. Inside the administration of Donald Trump, officials are scrambling for solutions that can meaningfully ease supply pressures. A newly announced pause in sanctions applies only to Iranian oil already loaded on ships and is set to expire by April 19, limiting its immediate impact. Crucially, the move does not increase actual production, a central factor behind soaring prices, and much of Iran’s oil was already finding its way to buyers despite sanctions. That reality mirrors earlier steps, including a temporary pause on restrictions on some Russian shipments, which critics said offered only modest relief while exposing the limits of Washington’s options.

Policy levers pulled with little effect

Washington has already deployed nearly every conventional mechanism to cushion the blow. Hundreds of millions of barrels have been released from strategic reserves, sanctions on Russian oil have been partially eased, and domestic crude flows have been accelerated in an effort to boost supply. Yet these measures have barely dented rising prices. Global benchmarks continue to surge, and US consumers are feeling the impact at the pump. Officials privately acknowledge that the tools at their disposal are either insufficient in scale or too slow to counter the immediacy of the crisis, exposing the limits of state intervention in a tightly wound global oil market. The strain is also evident in Washington’s shifting diplomatic posture. After initially insisting the US did not need Nato’s help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump publicly urged allies to “step up” and help reopen the vital route. The appeal has met a muted response, with many countries reluctant to be drawn into a conflict they did not start, further complicating efforts to stabilize the situation and underlining the limits of US leverage even among its partners.Trump has criticized Nato countries as “cowards” for refusing to assist while insisting the campaign is unfolding according to plan, even declaring the battle “militarily won.” Yet those claims sit uneasily against the reality of a defiant Iran continuing to choke off Gulf energy flows and launch missile strikes across the region, underscoring the widening gap between rhetoric and conditions on the ground.

Finally, turning to enemy’s oil

With options dwindling, the administration has turned to a controversial stopgap: allowing allies to purchase Iranian oil already at sea. The move is designed to inject roughly 140 million barrels into a market starved of supply, offering short-term relief even as the broader conflict rages on. Officials argue that this oil would have likely been sold regardless, particularly to countries willing to bypass sanctions. Redirecting those flows to US allies, they contend, helps stabilize markets without fundamentally altering the pressure campaign against Tehran. Still, the decision lays bare an uncomfortable truth, that immediate economic needs are forcing Washington into choices that cut against its own strategic posture.

But is it enough to solve the energy crisis?

Even with Iranian barrels entering the market, the relief is expected to be fleeting. The additional supply amounts to barely a day and a half of global consumption, underscoring how limited the impact will be if disruptions persist. Energy experts warn that without a reopening of key shipping routes, the imbalance between supply and demand will continue to widen. That leaves the administration facing a stark choice: find a way to restore passage through the Strait of Hormuz or brace for prolonged economic fallout. For now, officials appear to be managing rather than resolving the crisis, navigating a war where the battlefield extends far beyond missiles and troops, deep into the fragile mechanics of the global economy.

Will the war end?

Beyond the immediate energy crisis, the conflict is pushing Donald Trump toward a deeper strategic crossroads. Analysts say the administration now faces a narrowing set of choices under what it has called Operation Epic Fury, with no clear indication of which path it is prepared to take, Reuters reported. One option is escalation — intensifying the offensive, potentially targeting critical infrastructure such as Iran’s oil hub at Kharg Island or expanding the US military footprint along Iran’s coast to neutralize missile threats. But such a move risks drawing Washington into a prolonged conflict, one that could face significant resistance from an American public wary of another long war in the Middle East. The alternative is to claim victory and scale back operations. Yet that, too, carries risks. It could leave Gulf allies exposed to a weakened but still defiant Iran, capable of disrupting shipping lanes and projecting power across the region. With diplomacy stalled and neither side showing signs of backing down, the administration is left navigating a conflict where every option deepens the very uncertainty it is trying to contain.