Simon Tisdall

The US president travels to meet the region’s leaders facing an uncomfortable reality: he may need them more than they need him

Donald Trump is accustomed to getting his own way. That could change next week when he’s confronted by the mess he’s making in the Middle East. As he begins a three-day trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, the US president is promising great things. As ever, he’s delusional. The reality is that reckless, incoherent and neglectful US regional policies are failing across the board. A fundamental course correction is urgently required.

Around the globe, conflict is spreading – but it’s too often going ignored. Are we simply overwhelmed by the scale of it?

Victims of Nazi atrocities will be remembered at ceremonies next week marking the end of the second world war in Europe. Survivors and relatives gathered at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Hanover last Sunday to commemorate the estimated 72,000 people who were murdered there. Among those killed was a young German-born Jewish girl, Anne Frank, whose celebrated diary recalls those terrible times.