John Lyons

Donald Trump's latest trip to the Middle East has revealed the US president's agenda for this often-troubled region.

President Trump is on his first trip to the Middle East since being re-elected. His first stop is in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His first major announcement is to lift sanctions on Syria.

The United States and China have temporarily agreed to lower the high trade tariffs they have slapped on each other's imports.

Of all Trump's miscalculations this week, his biggest miscalculation of all may be assuming that China would not hit back, using the economic power that the Chinese Communist Party has been amassing for decades, but until recently, has not fully deployed.

Donald Trump says his Liberation Day trade tariff bonanza will bring in a "golden age" for America but the self-confidence and psychology behind them will be tested in coming months.

In any other presidency, the story would rock the US: top national security advisers mistakenly adding a journalist to their group chat. But Washington is not what it used to be.

The US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are due to talk in the next 24 hours over how to end the Ukraine War. 

The Trump administration is escalating its military action against the Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. This comes as President Donald Trump raises hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

In the new poker game of international politics, Donald Trump is dealing the cards and Vladimir Putin has blinked and made a concession.

After Zelenskyy and Trump's disastrous Oval Office meeting, Russia had a major battlefield advantage. All of that could change.

In his first speech to the new Congress, Donald Trump declared his administration was "just getting started" before a Democratic congressman was evicted from the chamber.

Experts say Australia matters less to Trump than it did to Biden which has consequences for vital intelligence-sharing alliance Five Eyes as well as the AUKUS deal.

A dialogue between the US and Russia is undoubtedly a good thing as this war drags on. But Trump's message for any country wanting to take someone else's land is that violence can work.

To understand how Donald Trump's Gaza plan came about, it's worth considering some comments made to a forum at one of the most prestigious US universities last year.

As Donald Trump reshapes America's relationship with Israel — from appointing right wing candidates as ambassadors to Israel and the UN and overturning sanctions on violent Jewish settlers — can the two-state solution survive?

Three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks have been handed back in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, hours after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza. 

The model of a two-state solution is bruised and damaged but is the only viable way to prevent further and more intense violence in coming years, writes John Lyons.

Few recent years have seen such dramatic changes as 2024 — changes that will resonate well into the future.

As Syrians expressed obvious relief at the end of 54 years of one of the most brutal dictatorships of modern times, their neighbour Israel reacted in a very different way: it launched a bombing campaign of 480 strikes in 48 hours.

Whatever the final outcome of the chaos in Syria, the past week has seen an extraordinary upheaval.

When Donald Trump re-enters the White House on January 20, he will find that Kim Jong Un, the man he so enjoyed meeting, has built for himself a new international status – and is now a major ally of Vladimir Putin. 

The next eight weeks leading up to Donald Trump's January 20 inauguration will be both dangerous and decisive in terms of the future of the Ukraine war.

The international outlook is set for a major shake-up — and the most dramatic change would be regarding the war in Ukraine.

As Americans face one of their most consequential elections for years, a subtext is running through the conversations of many of those anxiously waiting for election day: could this country face upheaval or even violence in coming weeks? The trauma of the Capitol riots in 2021 remains seared into the memories of Americans. 

Beirut today is a tale of two cities – the areas being bombed by Israel and those where life carries on nearly like normal.