Category: World

U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran’s leadership is still largely intact and is not at risk of collapse any time soon after nearly two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment, according to three ​sources familiar with the matter.
A “multitude” of intelligence reports provide “consistent analysis that the regime is not in danger” of collapse and “retains control of the Iranian public,” ‌said one of the sources, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence findings.

The latest report was completed within the last few days, the source said.
With political pressure building over soaring oil costs, President Donald Trump has suggested he will end the biggest U.S. military operation since 2003 “soon.” But finding an acceptable end to the war could be difficult if Iran’s hardline leaders remain firmly entrenched.
The intelligence reporting underscores the cohesion ​of Iran’s clerical leadership despite the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, the first day of the U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Israeli officials in closed discussions also ​have acknowledged there is no certainty the war will lead to the clerical government’s collapse, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.

The sources stressed that ⁠the situation on the ground is fluid and that the dynamics inside Iran could change.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.
The ​White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SHIFTING OBJECTIVES

Since launching their war, the U.S. and Israel have struck a range of Iranian targets, including air defenses, nuclear sites, and ​members of the senior leadership.
The Trump administration has given varying reasons for the war. In announcing the beginning of the U.S. operation, Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government,” but top aides have since denied that the objective was to oust Iran’s leadership.
In addition to Khamenei, the strikes have killed dozens of senior officials and some of the highest-ranking commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite paramilitary force that ​controls large parts of the economy.

Still, the U.S. intelligence reports indicate that the IRGC and the interim leaders who assumed power after Khamenei’s death retain control of the country.
The Assembly ​of Experts, a group of senior Shiite clerics, earlier this week declared Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, the new supreme leader.
Israel has no intention of allowing any remnants of the former government to stay intact, said a ‌fourth source ⁠familiar with the matter.
It is unclear how the current U.S.-Israeli military campaign would topple the government.
It would likely require a ground offensive that would allow people inside Iran to safely protest in the streets, said the source.
The Trump administration has not ruled out sending U.S. troops into Iran.

INTELLIGENCE SUGGESTS KURDS LACK FIREPOWER TO FIGHT IRAN

Reuters reported last week that Iranian Kurdish militias based in neighboring Iraq consulted with the U.S. about how and whether to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country.

Such an incursion could put pressure on Iranian security services ​there, allowing Iranians to rise up against the ​government.
Abdullah Mohtadi, the head of the ⁠Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, part of a six-party coalition of Iranian Kurdish parties, said in an interview on Wednesday that the parties are highly organized inside Iran and that “tens of thousands of young people are ready to take up arms” against the government if they receive ​U.S. support.
Mohtadi said he has received reports from inside Iranian Kurdistan that IRGC units and other security forces have abandoned bases ​and barracks out of fear ⁠of U.S. and Israeli strikes.
“We have been witnessing tangible signs of weakness in Kurdish areas,” he said.
But recent U.S. intelligence reports have cast doubt on the ability of the Iranian Kurdish groups to sustain a fight against Iranian security services, according to two sources familiar with those assessments.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-intelligence-says-iran-government-is-not-risk-collapse-say-sources-2026-03-11/

Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter Ju Ae has long been seen as next in line to rule the country.

North Korea released an image on Thursday (Mar 12) of leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter firing a pistol, weeks after photos showed her shooting a rifle – once again stoking speculation she is being groomed as heir.

Kim’s teenage daughter Ju Ae featured prominently in state photos published to mark the closing stages of the nuclear-armed country’s key ruling Workers’ Party congress last month.

She has long been seen as next in line to rule the country, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings, as well as a rare image released late last month of her firing a rifle at a shooting range.

Pyongyang’s state media released an image of Ju Ae firing what looked like a pistol with one eye closed, flames shooting from the muzzle of the gun.

She was attending an event, along with her father, at a “major munitions factory” that produces new pistols and other “portable light arms”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

State media images showed the duo, donning matching leather jackets – often seen as a symbol of power in North Korea – being briefed by officials as they inspected the facility.

There, leader Kim visited the factory’s “shooting gallery” where he got to test the “new-type” pistol himself, and expressed satisfaction over the weapon’s “excellence”.

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.

Despite her young age, “it appears the regime is trying to cultivate the image of a strong and formidable woman”, Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told AFP.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/north-korea-image-leaders-daughter-firing-pistol-kim-ju-ae-jong-un-5988026

About 4,900 of the accounts were taken down with the help of the Singapore Police Force.

Meta has disabled more than 150,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to scam centre networks in Southeast Asia after a global law enforcement operation last week involving agencies from countries such as Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

About 4,900 of the accounts were taken down with the help of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), which shared intelligence with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The operation, known as the Joint Disruption Week, was held in Bangkok and led by the Royal Thai Police Anti-Cyber Scam Center, the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice Scam Center Strike Force.

The Royal Thai Police arrested 21 people for their involvement in scam activity, Meta said in a press release on Wednesday (Mar 11).

The latest enforcement operation was the second joint crackdown since December 2025. The first saw the removal of 59,000 accounts, pages and groups from Meta’s platforms as well as the issuance of six arrest warrants.

The tech company also released its adversarial threat report for the first half of 2026, where it listed target trends that surfaced during its investigations.

Mandarin-speaking audiences, including those in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, were among groups frequently targeted by criminal scam syndicates.

These targeting patterns likely reflect both the expected returns of larger, higher-income markets and the operational realities of these scam compounds, said Meta.

Coerced or recruited workers are typically trained to conduct outreach in English or their own major regional languages, enabling them to target a large number of victims.

Still, criminal scam syndicates are opportunistic and may target individuals anywhere, Meta added.

Meta’s director of global threat disruption David Agranovich also flagged three scam types observed on its platforms during last week’s joint enforcement operation.

They included law enforcement impersonation scams, where criminals pose as police or government officials to extort victims, and digital arrest scams, which involve fraudsters conducting fake video call arrests to coerce victims into paying fines or transferring assets.

Another category was cryptocurrency investment scams, where a criminal builds a false romantic or professional relationship with their target before luring the individual into a fraudulent investment scheme.

On Meta’s partnership with enforcement agencies, Mr Agranovich said the company expects to conduct more such joint operations throughout this year.

“When platforms and law enforcement can share intelligence in real time and coordinate action against the criminals, we can disrupt these networks faster and more effectively than any of us can do alone,” he added.

Mr Daryl Poon, director of law enforcement for the Asia-Pacific region at Meta, said scam networks today operate across borders and adapt quickly, often shifting tactics between platforms and jurisdictions.

Initiatives like the Joint Disruption Week allow Meta to stay ahead of emerging scam trends and better protect people across the region, he added.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police (DAC) Gregory Kang from SPF also noted the importance of close cooperation between law enforcement agencies and digital platforms.

“By proactively sharing information, we can more effectively disrupt the criminal networks behind these scams,” added DAC Kang, who is assistant director of the cybercrime division in SPF’s Criminal Investigation Department.

Police Lieutenant General Jirabhop Bhuridej, assistant commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police and deputy director of the police cyber task force, noted that criminal scam syndicates cause real harm to communities and the economy.

Tackling scams calls for a joint effort between the public and private sectors, he added.

“This operation also sends a clear message to criminals that the Royal Thai Police and our partners will continue to suppress and eradicate all forms of online crime to the fullest extent, to make Thai society and our region a safe place for all citizens.”

NEW TOOLS

Meta also announced new tools that will be available on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp to protect users from scams.

These include Facebook alerts to help users decide whether to block or reject requests from accounts that show signs of suspicious activity, such as not having many mutual friends or those with a different country location in their profile.

On WhatsApp, scammers may try to trick people into linking their accounts to a fraudster’s device, either by getting users to enter their phone number followed by a device linking code or scanning a QR code.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/scam-facebook-instagram-meta-thailand-enforcement-5986251

HOLLYWOOD’S awards season is often a masterclass of balancing grandeur with subtlety – but according to one Academy voter, Timothée Chalamet appears to have missed that memo.

The actor entered the 2026 Oscars race as the top contender of the season, but an Academy member and voter tells The U.S. Sun that his chances of taking home the top prize have steadily slipped away.

That’s not just down to the competition, but because of the image he’s projected during the campaign.

“I’ve been a member of the Academy for 12 years and I’ve never seen someone throw away their chances of winning as brazenly as Timothee,” the insider, who wished to remain anonymous, confessed when speaking with The U.S. Sun.

“It’s not just a few people talking about it, most of the voters are hyper-aware of his antics which is never a good thing.

“You don’t want people talking about you during awards season for anything other than your performance.

“Nominees who are favored more tend to be more understated and Timothee is the opposite of that.”

Timothee’s performance in Marty Supreme initially made him the frontrunner in the Best Actor race, with many critics praising his commitment to the role.

But according to the insider, the conversation surrounding the star began to shift as awards season progressed – particularly as some of his public comments and artistic choices sparked debate online and within Hollywood circles.

“He blew his chances for a few reasons,” the Academy voter said.

“What at first seemed to be a genuine passion for the arts has rubbed people the wrong way and almost makes it as though he’s making a mockery of the arts.

“I’m sure that’s not his intention but that’s how it comes across.”

During the promotional circuit, Timothee, 30, came under worldwide scrutiny for harsh comments he said about various art forms, such as opera and ballet, during a pre-Oscars sit-down with Matthew McConaughey.

“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no-one cares about this anymore’,” Timothee quipped when discussing the decline of audiences going to movie theaters.

The comments, which were said just two weeks before the Oscars, garnered so much backlash that he even faces losing a lucrative brand deal with Cartier, who is a sponsor of many opera houses and ballet companies, The U.S. Sun exclusively reported.

The actor also raised eyebrows during the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards when he delivered an acceptance speech referencing “greatness” – a moment that quickly circulated online and was interpreted by some as overly self-serious.

Adding to the discourse was a stylized music video Timothee starred in at the beginning of 2026, which was intended as an artistic project with rapper EsDeeKid but received mixed reactions from audiences, with some viewers questioning whether it was a parody.

While the insider stressed that Timothee’s personal life should not be a deciding factor, they acknowledged that his highly publicized relationship with Kylie Jenner has also influenced how some voters perceive him.

“And then there’s Kylie. While I certainly would never place any blame on her, she’s done nothing wrong, it does shift the narrative when the leading Oscar nominee brings a Kardashian as their date.

“Many people have preconceived notions of what that means,” the voter added.

Kylie, 28, has accompanied the actor to several high-profile industry events during awards season, including sitting by his side for the major ceremonies and parties.

“It doesn’t matter if Kylie is polite and well-mannered, which I’ve heard she is. She seems lovely. But him being in that high-profile of a relationship paints him in a different light.

“At the end of the day, it does impact his chances of winning and impacts his reputation.”

A Changing Vote

The Academy member revealed that Timothee once had their support — but that vote ultimately shifted as the season unfolded.

“Timothee originally had my vote,” the insider admitted.

“It changed to Michael B. Jordan as the awards season progressed. Not for any one reason, but Michael’s performance in Sinners stood out to me more than Marty Supreme as the weeks passed.

“And Michael standing on that stage holding the Oscar would be something I’d be proud to vote for,” the source said.

“I can’t say the same thing about if Timothee were to win.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16069997/timothee-chalamet-blown-oscars-win-lose-kylie-jenner/

GOING through a severe bout of Covid or the flu trigger lung cancer years or even months later, scientists say.

Serious viral infections “reprogram” immune cells in the lungs, making it easier for tumours to grow, an American study shows.

But Covid-19 and flu vaccines – dished out to at-risk groups in the UK – could help prevent these harmful effects, researchers suggested.

Dr Jie Sun, from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, said: “A bad case of COVID or flu can leave the lungs in a long-lasting ‘inflamed’ state that makes it easier for cancer to take hold later.

“The encouraging news is that vaccination largely prevents those harmful changes for cancer growth in the lung.”

Researchers urged doctors to keep an eye on patients who’ve recovered from severe Covid, flu or pneumonia.

This may help catch lung cancer early, when it’s still treatable, they said.

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK, affecting more than 43,000 people a year, according to the NHS.

It’s also one of the most serious, causing more deaths than any other cancer.

It’s often caught when it is more advanced, as the early stages of lung cancer usually cause no signs or symptoms.

Smoking is the most common driver, with targeted lung cancer screening rolled out to ex- and current smokers in England aged 55 to 74.

But people who’ve never picked up a cigarette can also get the disease.

Dr Jeffrey Sturek, who also worked on the study, said: “These findings have important immediate implications for how we monitor patients after severe respiratory viral infection.

“We’ve known for a long time that things like smoking increase the risk for lung cancer.

“The results from this study suggest that we may need to think about severe respiratory viral infection similarly.”

Writing in the journal Cell, UVA researchers explained flu and Covid can injure the lungs.

The team studied the long-term effects of lung injury from respiratory infections in both mice and humans.

Mice that suffered severe lung infections were more likely to develop lung cancer.

They were also significantly more likely to die from the disease.

Serious viral lung infections caused dramatic changes to immune cells called neutrophils and macrophages, which are supposed to protect the organs.

Following illness, neutrophils in the mice’s lungs created an inflamed, “pro-tumour” environment that made it easier for cancer to thrive.

Next, researchers examined data from patients who’d been in hospital with Covid.

They found a significant link between Covid hospitalisation and the development of lung cancer in patients.

Patients were at increased risk of the disease whether or not they were smokers or had other health conditions that might make them more likely to get cancer.

But the increased cancer risk was seen in patients with severe Covid-19, not those who had suffered mild cases.

Those patients actually saw a slight decrease in risk.

Meanwhile, vaccination against Covid and flu appeared to prevent cancer-causing lung changes.

But researchers warned survivors of severe flu and Covid may need to be monitored, as they could face an increased risk of developing lung cancer in the years to come.

“With tens of millions of people globally experiencing long-term pulmonary consequences [from Covid-19], these findings carry significant implications for clinical care,” they wrote.

Dr Sturek suggested: “In some patients who are at high risk for lung cancer based on smoking history, we recommend close monitoring with routine screening CT scans of the lungs to catch cancer early.”

The UK grappled with an earlier than usual surge in flu cases, beginning in November last year.

Infections have since decreased and the virus is now “circulating at baseline levels”, according to the UK Health Security Agency – the same goes for Covid.

But many vulnerable people still end up in hospital with the two infections every year.

UVA scientists said their findings on the biological changes brought on by severe lung infections could lead to better treatments and save lives.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/health/16069942/severe-covid-flu-may-trigger-lung-cancer/

JEFFREY Epstein allegedly told a teen victim he was already a dad – while also asking other young women he abused to have his child, newly released files claim.

One victim told investigators that the convicted paedo pointed to a photograph of a blonde woman displayed inside his New York mansion and said she had given birth to his baby.

The woman, who claims Epstein sexually assaulted her for years after she met him aged 16, told the FBI the image showed a blonde on a beach.

“In another suite of his residence, there was a picture of a blonde woman on the beach,” she said.

“Epstein told (redacted) that this was the mother of his child.

“There was a torso sculpture, like a mold – Epstein said this mold was of this woman.

“Epstein told that this woman was perfect. Epstein told that her husband will be very lucky”.

The allegation appears in documents released by the Department of Justice and is likely to fuel long-running speculation that Epstein secretly fathered a child.

But the claims have been repeatedly denied by his brother, Mark Epstein, who insists the disgraced financier never had children.

The victim, who spoke to the FBI in January 2020, said she had moved to Kansas with her family as a child after immigrating from a country that is redacted in the documents.

Her parents reportedly worked at McDonald’s to support the family.

She later moved to New York after being discovered by a modelling scout and said she met Epstein five times in 2005 through contacts in the modelling world.

In her disturbing account, she told investigators she was still a virgin when she first met him and alleged that after abusing her he bragged that she was the “best d*** sucker”.

The files also reportedly contain a photograph showing Epstein hugging a woman in his New York home while she cradles a baby in her arms.

The faces of the woman and child are concealed.

Other images released in the tranche of documents show Epstein holding babies, though the children have never been identified.

Speculation about Epstein having a child intensified after emails from his former friend Sarah Ferguson surfaced.

Writing to him in September 2011, she said: “Don’t know if you are still on this bbm [BlackBerry Messenger] but heard from The Duke that you have had a baby boy.

“Even though you never kept in touch, I still am here with love, friendship and congratualtions [sic] on your baby boy. Sarah xx.”

Separate accounts suggest Epstein also allegedly tried to persuade women he abused to carry his child.

Handwritten notes believed to be from a British victim claim he raised the idea while she was at his Palm Beach home, prompting anger from his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

She wrote that Maxwell was “upset and pi***d” when Epstein “brought up (the) subject of having a child”.

The woman added that Maxwell “punished me because of it” and claimed it was “humiliating for her [Maxwell]that JE want have child w/me and not her. I look more his type”.

Two other women have also previously claimed Epstein asked them to have his baby.

In a deposition from a defamation case filed by Virginia Giuffre against Maxwell in 2015, accuser Johanna Sjoberg said he repeatedly made the request.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16072719/jeffrey-epstein-told-victims-father-baby/

The dollar held its ground on Wednesday as traders moved to the sidelines, awaiting ​cues on what comes next in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran while mixed messages on a resolution to the conflict ‌kept sentiment frail.
Global markets have been betting that U.S. President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon, but Trump has also repeatedly threatened to hit Iran hard over moves to stop the flow of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

The dollar, which has surged as the more than week-long ​war sent oil prices soaring, has given up some of those gains on hopes of a swift resolution, but analysts remain ​sceptical of the conflict ending so soon.
“We expect the war to run for months, not weeks, while ⁠acknowledging the high level of uncertainty,” said Kristina Clifton, senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The U.S. and Israel pounded ​Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war.
Raising the stakes for the ​global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless U.S. and Israeli attacks ceased.

The fast-evolving developments in the Middle East have left traders grappling with how to best price the risk, and for now they appear to be on the sidelines.
“Traders are largely ​sitting on their hands and waiting for further news and greater clarity so that risk can be priced more efficiently,” said ​Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
The euro last bought $1.16205 in early Asian hours, slightly stronger than the three-month low it touched on Monday. Sterling ‌was ⁠0.12% higher at $1.34305.
The dollar index , which measures the U.S. unit against six other rivals, was at 98.876, inching away from the three-month top hit on Monday.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar hovered close to the nearly four-year high it touched on Tuesday and last bought $0.713.
Much of the Aussie’s gains came after Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser on Tuesday warned that the spike in oil prices would ​push inflation higher and add to ​pressure for a rate rise ⁠at its policy meeting next week.
“The war in the Middle East has had some large impacts on expectations for central bank interest rates,” CBA’s Clifton said. “Since the war began at the end of ​February markets have either moved from pricing cuts to pricing hikes, or to pricing less cuts ​than previously.”
Fed funds ⁠futures traders are now pricing in 39.7 basis points of cuts by year-end, indicating doubts over whether the U.S. central bank will make a second 25-basis-point cut this year.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/currency-market-tenterhooks-iran-war-weighs-sentiment-2026-03-11/

Australia on Wednesday granted humanitarian visas ‌to two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who decided to stay in the country due to fears for their safety if they returned home.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said a player and ​a support staff member accepted the government’s offer, after five players from the team ​were granted asylum a day earlier.

“I made them the same offer that I ⁠made the five players the night before,” Burke told reporters.

“If they wanted to receive a ​humanitarian visa for Australia, which would have a pathway to a permanent visa, I had the ​paperwork ready to execute that immediately.”
Australian officials talked to most members of the team separately at Sydney airport and were informed of their options before they flew out of Australia.
“What we made sure of was that ​there was no rushing, there was no pressure. Everything was about ensuring the dignity for ​those individuals to make a choice,” Burke said during a media briefing in Canberra.

Some discussed their options with ‌family ⁠but they declined the offer to remain in Australia. The team has reached Kuala Lumpur on their way to Iran.

Concerns about the players’ safety grew after Iranian state television labelled the team “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing the national anthem during an Asia Cup match in Australia.
The ​Iranian team’s campaign in ​the tournament started ⁠just as the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They were eliminated from the ​tournament on Sunday.
A group of Iranians living in Australia gathered to ​protest against ⁠the Iranian government and surrounded the players’ bus in Gold Coast when they left the hotel for the airport.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/australia-grants-asylum-two-more-iranian-women-soccer-players-2026-03-10/

Pope Leo has accepted the resignation of a Catholic bishop in ​San Diego who was arrested by ‌local authorities on suspicion of stealing $250,000 from his congregation, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.
Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta had ​led the small Chaldean Catholic community ​in the California city since 2017. He ⁠pleaded not guilty to 16 counts ​of embezzlement and money laundering at a hearing ​on Monday, according to local media reports.

San Diego Deputy District Attorney Joel Madero said the alleged crimes ​took place in 2024 and were reported ​by a church employee who noticed the missing funds, ‌according ⁠to KGTV, a local ABC affiliate.
Hana Shaleta was arrested on March 5 at San Diego’s international airport while attempting to leave ​the U.S., according ​to ⁠a sheriff’s office statement.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-leo-fires-san-diego-bishop-accused-stealing-250000-2026-03-10/

The full restoration of operations depends on regulatory approvals and airspace reopening, while many Indian nationals continue to struggle with delayed transit visas in Saudi Arabia and Oman, alongside rising ticket prices.

Although the majority of West Asian airspaces have been shut after Iran continued targeting U.S. assets in the Gulf countries in retaliation for attacks by the United States and Israel on the country since February 28, there has been a marked improvement in flight operations connecting West Asian countries and parts of India, including Kerala.

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior officer with Air India said the airline, including its budget arm Air India Express, which had been operating around 110 daily flights to West Asia from the country, operated around 50 flights on Monday, including two dozen scheduled flight services to Jeddah and Muscat and the rest as ad-hoc special flights to and from various points in the UAE.

Around 40% of the fleet is operational now. However, full-scale operations will depend on the complete reopening of airspaces, availability of slots, and regulatory approvals. Airports in Kerala have also been catering to the full-scale operation of scheduled flights from Muscat and Saudi Arabia, along with special flights to other cities based on regulatory approvals provided by the respective governments.

With the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority confirming the limited opening of selected corridors, Qatar Airways announced flights from Qatar to various cities, including Kochi, until March 11. The Calicut International Airport has been handling around two dozen daily flights from West Asia, including from the UAE, while the airspaces of Kuwait and Bahrain remain closed. The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport also handled around 15 flights to and from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Sharjah on Monday.

According to Ajit Kolassery, Chief Executive Officer of NoRKA-Roots, the government agency working for the welfare of non-resident Keralites, the movement of stranded passengers has almost been completed, and there is steady demand for routine passenger travel, including emergency travel. Although Saudi Arabian and Oman airspaces are operational, there have been inordinate delays in obtaining transit visas for Indian nationals in other West Asian cities who need to transit through airports in Saudi Arabia and Oman. In addition, the exorbitant fares charged by airlines in response to the high demand for travel are also causing problems for expatriates, Mr. Kolassery said.

Source : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/around-40-of-flights-to-west-asia-operational-amid-transit-visa-delays-for-expats/article70722990.ece

More than 200 Singaporeans and their dependents arrived at Changi Airport on Wednesday morning.

Seeing Singaporean soldiers on the Republic of Singapore Air Force A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Tuesday (Mar 10) brought Ms Malathi Keshvani a distinct sense of comfort.

Ms Malathi, her husband and two children were among the 218 Singaporeans and their dependents who arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on the first military evacuation flight from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

“The way they spoke to us, the Singapore way of making you feel. When you hear these things, you feel like ‘oh you’re already home’.

“And then the pilot said it is an honour to get you home – I mean, what beats that? And we already felt safe, although we knew we were going to fly through the airspace.

“There was that little bit of (fear) for me, but the moment the pilot said that, I felt like okay, we are safe.”

The evacuation flight departed Riyadh at about 10.30pm on Tuesday.

It was the first of two military flights from Saudi Arabia to evacuate Singaporeans in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia amid the Middle East war.

The second flight is being planned for Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said.

In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that although Singapore had arranged several commercial flights to bring Singaporeans home, some locations were not accessible through commercial flights. That was why the RSAF A330 MRTT was deployed to Riyadh.

He thanked Saudi Arabia and Singapore’s partners in the region for their support in facilitating and ensuring the safe passage of the evacuation flights.

“To our fellow Singaporeans who remain in the region: please stay vigilant, look out for one another, and ensure you are e-registered with MFA so that we can reach you quickly if needed,” he added.

As the passengers left the baggage area, they were greeted with tears and tight hugs.

Ms Malathi and her family had travelled on a bus from Doha to Riyadh to get on the evacuation flight. She said their family in Singapore kept supporting and checking in on them.

“You don’t think of these things until you go through something so unbelievable,” she said.

“We didn’t know how to get out of Doha safely until the embassy said they were organising this. That gave us the assurance that we would be supported and taken care of.”

Mr Nick Nassier was also on a bus from Doha to Riyadh, with the journey taking about eight hours. His family members were at Changi Airport to welcome him home.

“We can’t be thankful enough, seriously, we can’t be thankful enough. It is so good to be back home again,” he told CNA.

“It was all very well run by the MFA people.”

Speaking to CNA, Mr Senthil Nathan said he was happy to be home and that the flight was better than any other flight he has been on.

“I have to salute them,” he said. “They took care of everything.”

“We are very relieved,” added his daughter Harini. “He was chill about the situation at first but for the past two, three days started to get a bit more worried.”

Ms Samantha Herman flew back to Singapore with her two children and elderly mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband stayed behind in Doha.

“It’s a relief to know that mum is back. Our family was so worried, very worried. We tried to keep them updated without making them panic.”

Her younger son, Arman who had his birthday on Monday, was upset that he had to leave his father behind, but the main purpose of the trip was to get his grandmother home.

She said about five to six buses had left the embassy in Doha for the journey to Riyadh.

“The travel was seamless. The crew, or the military staff on board, were fantastic. I think everybody was just relieved when they saw our men and women in uniform.”

The family was met at the airport by family members, including Ms Herman’s sister, Serene, who had balloons for the children and a cake for Arman.

“We are so thankful … To have your loved ones come back to you at this time of need. And (the Singapore government) was very prompt, with the MFA contacting them every day,” she said.

“This is a relief to see them coming off the plane, seeing them back with their families and loved ones,” said Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad on Wednesday shortly before the first passengers arrived.

He thanked the RSAF team for bringing the Singaporeans and their dependents home.

“When called upon, they showed courage, fully knowing that going into the region meant coming under attack. This is something that I salute them for, their bravery, and this is something they have done without hesitation.

“This is the right thing to do. This is our duty to bring Singaporeans home.”

MINDEF had said the airspace in Saudi Arabia remained open and that the necessary diplomatic clearances had been sought to conduct the repatriation flights.

The deployment of the aircraft is solely to support the assisted departure operations, according to the ministries.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/rsaf-military-evacuation-flight-saudi-arabia-changi-middle-east-war-5985221

Fribourg police said in a statement that public prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation “to determine the exact circumstances of the tragedy”.

At least six people have died after a bus caught fire in western Switzerland, police said, adding that investigators are examining whether the blaze may have been deliberately started by someone on board. The fire broke out on Tuesday evening in the town of Kerzers, about 15 miles west of the Swiss capital, Bern.

Frederic Papaux, a spokesperson for police in the Fribourg canton, said early indications suggested the possibility of a deliberate act. “At this stage, we have elements suggesting a deliberate act by a person who was inside the bus,” Papaux told a news conference, according to Reuters.

Authorities did not provide further details on why they believe the fire could have been intentionally started.

Fribourg police said in a statement that public prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation “to determine the exact circumstances of the tragedy”. Officials said they could not immediately confirm reports that a person may have doused themselves in gasoline before the fire began.

Images published by Swiss media showed flames rapidly engulfing the vehicle.

“After rushing to the scene, rescue teams noted that the vehicle was totally engulfed in flames,” the regional government said in a statement. Emergency responders, including ambulance and helicopter teams, transported three people with severe injuries to hospital. Two other people were treated at the scene, police said.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/europe/kerzers-switzerland-bus-fire-video-multiple-dead-injured-article-153804691

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday about escalating tensions in West Asia. The discussion focused on global oil supply risks following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. India stressed concern over regional stability.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi amid increasing concerns over the fallout of the West Asia crisis, especially on the energy supplies.

It was the third time that Jaishankar spoke to Araghchi since the US and Israel launched the joint military strikes on Iran.

“A detailed conversation this evening with Foreign Minister @araghchi of Iran on the latest developments regarding the ongoing conflict. We agreed to remain in touch,” Jaishankar said on social media.

The phone conversation between the two foreign ministers came amid increasing global concerns over disruptions in oil supplies in view of the crisis in West Asia.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/eam-s-jaishankar-speaks-to-irans-araghchi-flags-oil-supply-crisis-and-strait-of-hormuz-tensions 

The pictures showed aircraft parked on runways, transport planes arriving at desert airfields and carrier decks crowded with fighters somewhere in the Mediterranean. Yet each image carried an unusual level of detail — not in English, but in Mandarin.

In the final week of February, long before the first missiles were launched and before the name Operation Epic Fury entered public discussion, a set of satellite images began circulating quietly online.

The pictures showed aircraft parked on runways, transport planes arriving at desert airfields and carrier decks crowded with fighters somewhere in the Mediterranean. Yet each image carried an unusual level of detail — not in English, but in Mandarin. Aircraft types were identified. Missile defence systems were labelled. Troop concentrations were marked with precise geolocation.

One set of images showed Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighters parked on the ramp at Israel’s Ovda Air Base. Another showed the buildup of aircraft and support systems at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base. Others mapped US bases across Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain.

The images were shared online by a Chinese artificial intelligence company with fewer than 200 employees.

Within days, the war began.

On February 28 the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, a joint campaign of air strikes targeting Iran. This was followed by retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Tehran.

Amid the conflict, something else was unfolding in parallel. A steady stream of satellite imagery showing American aircraft, missile defence batteries and naval deployments continued to appear online. The source was the same firm, the Shanghai-based geospatial intelligence company MizarVision.

What The Images Show

The first major batch of imagery reportedly appeared on February 20.

MizarVision published a collection of high-resolution satellite photographs showing US aircraft transfers to Ovda Air Base in southern Israel, fighter deployments across the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, naval activity and carrier movements in the Arabian Sea, among other military assets.

Each image was annotated using artificial intelligence tools. Aircraft were labelled by type. Support aircraft were identified. Missile defence systems were highlighted.

By March 1, the dataset had expanded significantly.

MizarVision released additional imagery covering military bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The images catalogued aircraft types, air defence configurations and troop concentrations.

The imagery was geolocated and published on social media platforms including X and Chinese networks such as Weibo. Some of the posts were shared by accounts linked to Chinese state media and analysts with ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Among the assets identified in the images were several high-value US platforms. Satellite imagery showed F-22 stealth fighters parked on the ramp at Israel’s Ovda Air Base shortly before the beginning of combat operations.

The images claimed seven F-22 aircraft were parked on the tarmac, while four additional F-22s were spotted on the runway.

Roughly 24 hours later, Operation Epic Fury began.

Other images documented activity at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, identifying seven Boeing E-3 airborne warning and control system aircraft and two Bombardier E-11 communications aircraft staged there.

Additional satellite images captured al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which later became a target of Iranian missile and drone attacks.

The imagery did not stop at airfields.

Tracking Aircraft Carriers From Orbit

Naval movements were also tracked.

MizarVision published satellite images showing the USS Gerald R Ford, the newest aircraft carrier in the US Navy, after it departed Souda Bay naval base in Crete.

The images showed Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters and Northrop Grumman E-2D airborne early warning aircraft on the carrier’s flight deck.

Satellite imagery also showed the USS Abraham Lincoln, another US carrier operating in the region, appearing to rendezvous with a resupply vessel in the Arabian Sea near Oman.

The company also combined satellite imagery with open-source flight tracking data.

Using aircraft tracking tools, analysts followed a US Navy Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft departing Isa Air Base in Bahrain and flying toward an area in the Arabian Sea where the Lincoln carrier group was believed to be operating.

The Company Behind The Images

Unlike American companies such as Vantor — formerly Maxar Intelligence — or Planet Labs, which operate their own satellite constellations, MizarVision functions primarily as an analysis and data-processing firm.

Its role is closer to what analysts describe as an “information aggregator.”

The company combines multiple streams of publicly available data like commercial satellite imagery, ADS-B aircraft tracking signals and AIS ship tracking data.

These datasets are processed using artificial intelligence models designed to identify military equipment automatically.

The result is a form of geospatial intelligence product that resembles the work traditionally carried out by national intelligence agencies.

The firm has been labelled “the Bloomberg of intelligence,” combining multiple datasets into a single analytical platform.

Where The Satellite Data Comes From

The imagery used by MizarVision appears to come from two possible sources. One option is China’s Jilin-1 satellite constellation, operated by Chang Guang Satellite Technology.

The Jilin-1 network includes more than 100 Earth-observation satellites, many capable of sub-metre resolution imagery. At that level of resolution, analysts can identify aircraft on runways and distinguish between different missile defence systems.

The second possible source is commercial Western imagery, which ironically includes companies such as Vantor, Planet Labs, and Airbus Defence & Space that operate global satellite constellations that sell imagery commercially to customers worldwide.

Did Iran Use The Data?

There is no confirmed evidence that Iran used the imagery to guide its attacks.

However, several facilities previously highlighted in MizarVision posts were later targeted during Iranian missile and drone strikes.

Among them was al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Iran also targeted facilities in Jordan, including Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, where a $300 million AN/TPY-2 radar system used by US THAAD missile defence units was destroyed.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-israel-war-mizarvision-chinese-spies-iran-war-live-a-war-china-watches-from-space-tracking-us-military-assets-in-real-time-11194213?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

The woman accused of shooting at Rihanna’s Beverly Hills, Calif. home while the singer was inside has officially been charged with attempted murder, and could face life in prison.

Ivanna Ortiz appeared in a Los Angeles County courthouse for an arraignment and plea hearing on Tuesday, court documents reveal.

In addition to the attempted murder charge, she was given a slew of additional charges, including nine counts of assault with a firearm, two counts of shooting into an inhabited dwelling, and one count of shooting at a motor vehicle.

The 35-year-old showed up to court on Tuesday wearing a blue jumpsuit and styled her hair into two blonde braids for the appearance, reports the California Post.

The accused shooter did not enter a plea during her brief hearing. Her scheduled arraignment date has been set for March 26.

After the hearing, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman revealed that in light of her charges, Ortiz could face life behind bars.

Ortiz is currently still being held on $1.8 million bond — a stark decrease from her original $10.225 million bond — and has been ordered to stay away from the “Work” hitmaker and her partner, A$AP Rocky.

Tuesday’s sighting marks Ortiz’s first public appearance since her arrest.

As we previously reported, Ortiz was arrested for attempted murder on Sunday after she allegedly fired 10 shots with an AR-15-style rifle at the singer’s California home.

Rihanna lives at the residence with A$AP Rocky and their three kids — RZA, 3, Riot Rose, 2, and 5-month-old Rocki Irish Mayers.

The shooting was reported to have gone down in broad daylight around 1:21 p.m.

Photos taken at the nine-time Grammy winner’s home showed the singer’s front security gate was struck with bullets before the shooter ultimately hit an airstream trailer that had been parked in the couple’s driveway.

In a press conference held after Ortiz’s hearing, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters that Rihanna and Rocky were both inside the trailer when bullets began flying through the windshield.

It was also reported in court on Tuesday that the Florida native hit another home within Rihanna’s neighborhood. Two people were inside the property at the time of the shooting.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/03/10/celebrity-news/rihanna-shooting-suspect-officially-charged-with-attempted-murder/

Pakistan announced fuel- and cost-saving measures to mitigate the economic strain from the ongoing conflict in Iran. The steps include temporary school closures, government salary cuts, and a ban on iftar gatherings.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday announced a series of measures intended to curb fuel consumption and reduce government spending amid economic strain caused by the US-Israel war with Iran.

The steps will affect schools, public services, and government workers.

Schools close as universities move online

Schools across Pakistan are scheduled to close for two weeks starting next Monday, a move that would affect roughly 40 million students in a nation of about 250 million. The government said colleges and universities will shift to online classes during the same period.

According to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, authorities also announced a ban on dinner parties for iftar, the sunset meal that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan.

Government offices, excluding banks, are expected to scale back operations to four days a week. Half of all public employees will work from home.

Government workers and austerity measures

Fuel allocations for official vehicles will be cut in half for two months, with exceptions for ambulances and public buses, Radio Pakistan reported.

Sharif also said cabinet ministers and advisers will forgo their salaries and allowances, while members of federal and provincial legislatures are expected to take voluntary pay cuts of 25%. Officials further announced a suspension of new official vehicle purchases until June 2026.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-to-close-schools-cut-spending-over-iran-war/a-76293311

Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union was “completely dependent” on expensive and volatile fossil fuel imports. She has announced new ambitions to harmonize nuclear regulations and roll out smaller reactors.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that Europe’s turn away from nuclear power had been a “strategic mistake” that was now exposed by the Iran war.

“This reduction ‌in the share of nuclear was a choice, I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power,” von der Leyen said at the opening of a nuclear energy summit near Paris.

“For fossil fuels, we are completely dependent on expensive and volatile imports. They are putting us at a structural disadvantage to other regions,” she added.

It comes as the US-Israeli war against Iran has damaged major oil refineries and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a shipping route that is a major chokepoint for the world’s oil supply.

Von der Leyen called the war “a stark reminder” of the vulnerabilities that come with being dependent on fossil fuel imports.

Von der Leyen, Macron call for energy independence

At the summit, von der Leyen announced a €200 ($230 million) fund for European nuclear innovation.

She said that “while in 1990, one-third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear, today it’s only close to 15%”.

Germany was one country that aggressively wound down its nuclear generation in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Its neighbor, France, continued to embrace the technology which now accounts for more than two thirds of its electricity production.

“Nuclear power is key to reconciling both independence — and thus energy sovereignty — with decarbonization, and thus carbon neutrality,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the summit.

“We can see it in our current geopolitical context: when we are too dependent on hydrocarbons, they can become a tool of pressure, or even of destabilization.”

France has in recent years sourced much of its natural uranium from Kazakhstan, Australia, Namibia and politically volatile Niger .

According to EU nuclear agency Euratom, Canada provided 34% of the bloc’s natural uranium in 2024, the most recent year on record, followed by Kazakhstan with 24% and Russia with around 15%.

What measures did EU leaders propose?

Von der Leyen announced a goal of rolling out small modular reactors (SMRs) across the EU by 2030 and harmonizing regulations between member states.

Unlike traditional reactors which produce around 1,0000 megawatts (MW), SMRs produce around 300 MW but are more affordable and quicker to build because they can be mass produced in factories.

“The logic is very clear. When it is safe to deploy, it has to be simple to deploy all across Europe,” von der Leyen said.

Macron proposed standardizing reactor designs across Europe — a move that could benefit France’s state-owned nuclear giant EDF which has lost out on contracts in recent years.

In 2024, the Czech Republic awarded a tender to build a new power plant to South Korea’s KHNP, which France’s EDF tried and failed to block in court.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country plans to “lead the conversation” on using nuclear power to decarbonize shipping.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/europe-eu-nuclear-power-strategic-mistake/a-76289274

Lufthansa pilots have called a two-day strike amid a dispute over pension payments. Meanwhile, Volkswagen says it plans to cut 50,000 jobs by 2030.

Iranians have told BBC Persian that they are exhausted and struggling to sleep after 10 days of Israeli and US attacks, as explosions “every few hours” rocked Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj overnight and cut power.

“I was in total darkness last night,” one man in his 30s from Tehran said, while others reported temporary blackouts or power fluctuations.

“I’m feeling terrible. They hit a street near us today. I just want to be able to sleep tonight,” a man in his 20s in the capital said.

Another in his 20s in Tehran said “we’re still alive,” but added that “where missiles hit is getting closer and closer every day.”

On Monday evening, the Israeli military announced that it had begun a “broad wave of strikes against terror targets in Tehran”.

The military said on Tuesday morning that it had targeted an underground complex used by the Revolutionary Guards for weapons research, infrastructure within the main headquarters of the Quds Force, the Guards’ overseas operations arm, and other weapons and defence production sites.

Another “wave of strikes” was launched in Tehran on Tuesday afternoon, according to the military.

Israel and the US launched a joint attack on Iran on 28 February, prompting retaliatory Iranian missile and drone strikes against Israel and targets in Middle Eastern countries hosting US military bases and embassies.

On Monday, the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) reported that 1,761 people had been killed in Iran – including at least 1,245 civilians, 194 of them children – since the war started.

Access to Iran for journalists is restricted and the BBC has not been able to independently verify figures and events from inside the country.

Internet connectivity in Iran has been almost entirely restricted, but BBC Persian has been hearing from residents, who we are not naming for their safety.

The man in his 30s in Tehran who reported “total darkness” overnight said: “The electricity went out and I had no idea what was happening”.

“They hit hard last night. All you can see in our house are cracks in the walls. Sleeping has become the hardest thing for me.”

Two other Tehran residents said they had experienced electricity fluctuations, while another man in his 30s in the capital said the power went out for around 30 minutes.

“I just want this to end once and for all,” he said.

One Tehran resident in his 30s said strikes were happening for “20 minutes in a row” at one point over Monday night.

“I am tired,” he said. “Every bit of routine I had is now gone. I either can’t do them or don’t have the motivation to carry them out.”

A woman in her 20s in Tehran said there were explosions “every few hours” and a strange white light in the sky that seemed different than nights before.

However, she said, “even if it takes a few weeks now, it’s still better than spending a lifetime living with this system”, reflecting the sentiment of those who want to see an end to the Islamic Republic.

Some in Karaj, which also experienced strikes and power cuts, felt similarly.

A man in his 30s in the city, which is 30 km (20 miles) west of Tehran, said there were some fluctuations and a “blue light” in the sky on Monday night.

A video published by BBC Persian from Karaj shows booms upon the horizon, as the night sky lights up with blue and red glows.

The man said he would “tolerate this situation as long as the regime is gone”.

A mother and middle class restaurateur in her 50s, who lives in the Mehrshahr residential neighbourhood of Karaj, said there was a strike near her home overnight, “the closest place to us, and we truly felt the shadow of death over our heads”.

“But we are standing firm until the end to survive and to be free. Even if we are killed, it honestly does not matter compared to the lives that have already been lost in the hope of victory,” she said.

A woman in her 40s from Tehran also said: “I’m very sad about what has happened to the city, but I hope it ends well for the people of Iran. I hope to see them [officials] gone.”

Others who spoke to the BBC were not so defiant, or hopeful.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev7llekwllo

When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein’s New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives.

But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items. And when they returned with a new one, the safe had been emptied while they were gone – according to FBI documents.

Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant and bookkeeper since 2005, had told the mansion’s staff to pack two suitcases with the contents of the safe and deliver them to his home, agents wrote.

After the FBI spoke to Kahn’s then lawyer, Kahn agreed to hand over the suitcases untouched, but he did not want agents coming to his house and declined to say who had told him to remove the items.

However, a source close to the investigation into Epstein told us that he was not aware of Kahn ever being interviewed or investigated in relation to the paedophile financier’s criminal investigation.

Kahn’s current lawyer told BBC News that his client had fully co-operated with the FBI’s requests.

Kahn, and Epstein’s long-serving lawyer Darren Indyke, are the sole executors of Epstein’s estate, controlling all his wealth and possessions.

Although hardly household names, the pair now hold control over compensation owed to survivors and the secrets contained in the documents still held by the Epstein estate – which, upon request, have been released to the House Oversight Committee.

As part of its investigation into Epstein’s network, a congressional committee has subpoenaed – summoned – the pair to testify. Kahn is appearing on Wednesday, while Indyke is due to testify on Thursday 19 March.

We have spoken to people associated with investigations linked to disgraced Epstein, looked through papers from multiple court cases, and analysed the most recent material released in the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice – to try to uncover more about the role the two men are alleged to have played in Epstein’s life and continue to play after his death.

Epstein appointed Indyke and Kahn as co-executors in August 2019, just two days before he died in jail awaiting trial for sex-trafficking minors. He revised his will to transfer all his wealth into a trust named after the year of his birth, which the lawyer and accountant would administer.

In their role as executors, Indyke and Kahn have agreed compensation packages paid to survivors and included conditions that prevented survivors who accepted funds from taking further legal action against them personally. Other claims are still outstanding.

As beneficiaries of the trust, the men could also be paid tens of millions of dollars each from whatever remains when the claims are settled.

The value of Epstein’s estate remains unclear. But it was estimated at roughly $635m (£475m) at the time of his death, according to Edwards Henderson, a law firm that represents many of the survivors.

One of the women Epstein abused, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that Indyke and Kahn had questions to answer about what they knew about his “enterprise”.

“Jeffrey was just one human. There’s no way that he would have been able to keep up with all this on his own,” she said. “We always say, follow the money, right? If you follow the money, you can understand a lot about how this operation ran.”

Court filings claim that, either Indyke and Kahn – but often both of them – “had signatory authority over virtually all of the accounts held by Epstein”, which meant they were authorised to make transactions.

They also helped to run multiple Epstein corporations – some of which, it is alleged in court filings, existed solely for the purpose of his sex-trafficking operation. Kahn’s lawyer told us “there is no basis for such claims” and that Epstein’s businesses didn’t operate to shield his activities; “virtually all of them were tax-filing entities whose ownership was never hidden”.

The pair allegedly received millions in fees and loans from Epstein, paid off survivors and even facilitated coerced marriages for women trafficked from abroad to allow them to stay in the US, according to documents filed in court.

One lawsuit alleges that no-one except Ghislaine Maxwell – a former British socialite and now convicted associate of Epstein – was “as essential and central to Epstein’s operation” as Indyke and Khan.

US Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told BBC News “they may be two of the best people to talk to” for insight into how Epstein managed his affairs. “Certainly the victims have mentioned them as people who had awareness of some of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, not just financial dealings, but even the sex trafficking,” he said.

Indyke and Kahn have denied any wrongdoing in their interactions with Epstein and are not facing any criminal charges. “No judge in any court anywhere has ever found that Mr Indyke or Mr Kahn committed any wrongdoing of any kind,” Daniel Weiner, Indyke’s lawyer, told BBC News.

“Not a single woman has ever accused either man of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr Epstein’s abuse,” he added.

The woman abused by Epstein told us the men’s appearances before the committee were welcome because survivors had been “screaming about them for a long time”.

“They need to answer for all of this. I just hope that people actually do speak and don’t just plead the Fifth [Amendment] and sit there in silence, because nothing is gained from that,” she said.

In addition to their forthcoming testimony, as co-executors of Epstein’s estate, Indyke and Kahn have provided the House Oversight Committee with “thousands of pages of documents, photographs and other materials” in response to subpoenas, according to Indyke’s lawyer.

But some items, such as Epstein’s book of birthday messages, have come with the co-executors’ own redactions made beforehand, which Indyke and Kahn’s legal team say were made to protect the identities of victims.

The deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime, the UN has said.

A new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says Russian authorities “at the highest level” have deported “thousands” of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s “direct involvement” has been “visibile form the outset,” it adds.

Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.

The UN Commission has so far identified 1,205 cases of children who were taken from Ukrainian territories by Moscow in 2022.

Eighty percent of these children have not yet been returned, the report says, and many parents and guardians are to this day unaware of the whereabouts of the minors.

This amounts to enforced disappearance and unjustifiable delay in repatriation, which are crimes against humanity and war crimes respectively, according to the UN.

The majority of the children mentioned in the UN report lived in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – Ukrainian regions which Moscow illegally claims control over.

The report says that just before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow evacuated these children to the Russian Federation, claiming they were at risk of an imminent attack by Ukraine. Then, the children were placed in families or institutions and given Russian citizenship.

Moscow has always dismissed accusations of forcibly removing children from Ukrainian territory.

Vladimir Putin once said that “the story of the ‘child abductions’… [was] exaggerated” and insisted that the children in question had been “rescued” from a war zone. At the time, he also insisted there was “no problem” returning the children to their homeland.

But Kyiv has always argued that was not the case and the UN report says that children have faced huge difficulties travelling back to Ukraine.

This forced removal and severed ties with their homeland, combined with a “coercive environment” in Russia, “has been a source of deep distress for the children”, according to the UN.

The children who manage to return suffer from “trauma, anxiety and fear of abandonment”, the report says, often due to harsh treatment in Russia. One child was told by staff in a Russian orphanage that his country, Ukraine, “does not exist anymore, everything has burnt down, and your parents have probably died”.

“I am still looking for my daughter, and I am terribly afraid of what she might think of me and how she survives [in Russia], where many people hate Ukrainians,” the report quotes a mother who has been unable to track down her child as saying.

In 2023 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him and his commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova of the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Lvova-Belova gave an interview in which she described “taking in” a 15-year-old boy from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russia currently occupies, and “re-educating” him despite the fact he “did not want to go” to Russia.

Ukraine says it has so far recovered 2,000 children.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7g5xnvl2eo

Meta should do more to address the “proliferation” of fake content made with artificial intelligence (AI) tools on its platforms, the social media giant’s own advisors have said.

The 21-person Oversight Board raised the concerns as it rebuked the company for leaving up an AI-generated video that claimed to show extensive damage in Haifa, Israel by Iranian forces without a label.

It called on the company to overhaul its AI rules, warning that an increase in fake AI videos related to global military conflicts had “challenged the public’s ability to distinguish fabrication from fact … risking a general distrust of all information.”

Meta said it would label the video at issue within seven days.

Meta launched the oversight board in 2020 as a semi-independent group providing supervision of content moderation decisions across its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

It frequently disagrees with Meta’s rulings, but the company has nevertheless continued to loosen its approach to policing content, raising questions about how much power the board actually wields.

The board said the firm’s handling of the Haifa video raised issues that it had flagged before about “inefficiencies in Meta’s current approach during armed conflicts”.

Currently Meta relies largely on users to “self-disclose” when content they post is produced by an AI tool. Otherwise it waits for someone to complain to its content moderation team, which could then decide to affix a label to something.

The board said the firm should be proactively labelling fake AI content “much more frequently”.

It said the firm’s current methods were “neither robust nor comprehensive enough to contend with the scale and velocity of AI-generated content, particularly during a crisis or conflict where there is heightened engagement on the platform”.

The board’s review of the issue was sparked by a video posted last June by a Facebook account based in the Philippines describing itself as a news source.

It was one of a string of fake AI videos posted to social media after the conflict began, with content either being pro-Israel and pro-Iran, which quickly collected at least 100 million views, according to a BBC analysis at the time.

Despite the Facebook video being AI-generated and showing content that was not real, and Meta receiving several user complaints about it, the company did not label the video as AI-generated or remove it.

It wasn’t until a Facebook user appealed directly to the Oversight Board, and the board took up the issue, that Meta even responded to concerns, according to the board.

The company then claimed the video, which garnered almost 1 million views, did not require any kind of label and did not need to be taken down because it did not “directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm.”

That is too high of a bar for labeling AI-generated content, particularly when the subject is armed conflict, the board said Tuesday, ruling that the video should have received a “high risk AI label.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjyg0g78vo

The warning comes at a time of heightened tensions in West Asia following the US-Israel confrontation with Iran.

United States President Donald Trump has warned that the US ⁠would hit Iran much ⁠harder if Iran stopped ‌the flow ​of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for oil.

“If Iran does anything that ​stops the ⁠flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be ⁠hit ‌by the United States of America TWENTY ‌TIMES HARDER than they ⁠have been hit thus far,” Trump wrote ‌on social media.

The President threatened wider destruction if Iran attempted to block the passage.

“Additionally, ‌we will take out ‌easily destroyable ‌targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ⁠ever ⁠be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and ​pray, that it ​does not ​happen!”

Trump said that keeping open the shipping lanes through the strait would benefit countries that are heavily dependent on the route for oil supplies.

“This is a gift from the United States of America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated.”

The warning comes at a time of heightened tensions in West Asia following the US-Israel confrontation with Iran.

Earlier, Trump had indicated that the US could take steps to secure the route — a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman carrying a significant share of global crude oil exports from Gulf countries — including deploying the United States Navy to escort commercial tankers through the strait.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/world/us/death-fire-fury-trump-says-us-will-hit-iran-twenty-times-harder-if-it-stopped-oil-flow-in-strait-of-hormuz-3926021 

Iran is wagering it can outlast the United States and Israel–not militarily, but by grinding the war into a brutal contest of endurance. Its strategy is stark: Unleash drones and missiles, cut vital energy routes and jolt global markets hard enough ​to force Washington to blink first.
Despite the shock of the U.S.–Israeli strikes and the loss of key figures, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)–long the ultimate guardian of the Islamic Republic — is firmly ‌in control, directing the battlefield, executing pre-planned contingencies and dictating strategy and targets in the war.

The IRGC also played the decisive role in elevating Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening U.S.–Israeli strikes.
“For them, they are waging an existential fight. This is an all-out war,” said Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics. “They believe their very survival is at stake. They’re willing to bring the temple down on everyone’s heads.”Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and expert on Iranian politics, added: “They’re ​like a bleeding animal– wounded, but therefore more dangerous than ever.”
That all-out war mindset is behind Iran’s escalating strikes across the Gulf, targeting energy hubs from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to maximise economic disruption in ​a calculated attempt to drive up costs for its neighbours, Europe and the United States and test Washington’s political will.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers on Monday the ⁠war would continue until Iran is “totally and decisively defeated” but predicted it would be over soon.
He added that once the United States is done with the military operation against Iran, Tehran will not have any weapons against the ​United States, Israel and U.S. allies for a long time.
Iranian insiders say this escalation was anticipated long before the war began 11 days ago. Iranian planners assumed confrontation with Washington and Israel was inevitable, and prepared a layered strategy coordinated ​across the Guards’ sprawling military networks and proxy forces.
Now, with little left to lose, Iran is executing that plan and turning the conflict into a grinding war of attrition aimed at exhausting its adversaries politically and economically.

Mojtaba’s selection as supreme leader, insiders say, proves the Guards’ dominance as kingmakers. They say the balance of power has shifted. The supreme leader holds the title, but the future of the Islamic Republic, and the authority of the clerical establishment itself, now depends on whether the Guards can weather ​the storm unleashed by the U.S.-Israeli campaign.

HOW LONG?

But a critical unknown in the war, says Mohannad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, is how long the Guards can sustain its missile campaign, the backbone ​of its strategy against its adversaries.
U.S. officials say a large share of Iran’s arsenal has already been destroyed, but regional sources say Tehran may still retain more than half its pre-war stockpile. If that estimate holds, Iran could keep launching missiles for several ‌more weeks, ⁠a timeframe that could prove significant for Washington as economic pressure mounts at home and abroad.

The Guards’ reach also extends far beyond the battlefield as it reshapes daily life. An Iranian observer said goods that once sat for weeks at ports are now cleared immediately. Paperwork comes later.
Officials described that as preparation for a war economy, ensuring supply lines keep moving under pressure, while also consolidating the IRGC’s control over the state and asserting continuity of governance.
Equally critical is internal stability. So far, there are no signs of protests, elite defections or fractures within the establishment, according to observers and contacts inside Iran.
An insider in Tehran described a city under bombardment but still functioning. “The windows shake day and night,” the person said. “But ​life goes on.” Shops and banks remain open, supplies are ​available and most residents have not fled the ⁠capital.
The attacks, however, may be producing an effect opposite to what Washington and Israel intended, he noted. Despite long-standing grievances with the government, a surge of national solidarity is taking hold as strikes hit infrastructure and the possibility of internal insurgencies is openly discussed.
“People are not prepared for Iran to disintegrate,” the source said.
For now, that sentiment may be buying ​the leadership time. “I don’t know if the regime will survive in the long term,” he added. “But for the next couple of weeks, it will not collapse.”

WHO WILL ​BLINK FIRST?

For strategists on both sides, ⁠the war is increasingly defined by two parallel tests of endurance: whether Iran can keep firing missiles and whether the United States and Israel can sustain the economic, military and political costs of stopping them.
“The big question is who blinks first in this all‑out war—Donald Trump or Iran’s leaders?” Gerges said.
By driving up energy prices and spreading financial pain across Western economies, Tehran hopes the pressure will force a U.S. retreat.
Early signs are that the effects are already biting. Oil prices are spiking, gas ⁠costs are rising ​and political unease is growing in Washington as the economic fallout collides with November midterm elections.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-bets-endurance-energy-disruption-outlast-us-israel-2026-03-10/

Australia will deploy a military surveillance ‌aircraft to the Middle East and send missiles to the United Arab Emirates but will not put troops on the ground in ​Iran, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.
Australia’s ​military support would help the Gulf countries defend ⁠themselves against unprovoked attacks from Iran, Albanese said, stressing Australia ​was “not a protagonist”.

“Our involvement is purely defensive,” Albanese told ​reporters. “And it’s in defence of Australians who are in the region as well as in defence of our friends in the United ​Arab Emirates.”

Albanese said Australia would deploy one of its ​Boeing-manufactured E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system aircraft for ‌an ⁠initial four weeks to protect the airspace above the Gulf countries.
Advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles would be provided to the United Arab Emirates, following a phone call with President ​Mohammed bin ​Zayed Al Nahyan, ⁠he added.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-send-missiles-uae-deploy-military-surveillance-aircraft-2026-03-09/

The dollar took a breather on Tuesday as investors ​swung between hopes for a de-escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and concerns that any such optimism could ‌be premature.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the war could end well before the timeline he initially laid out, but threatened to escalate attacks should Tehran block oil shipments from the Strait of Hormuz.

In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards dismissed Trump’s remarks as “nonsense” and said the blockade would continue until attacks ​from the U.S. and Israel end.

However, equities advanced and oil prices retreated from over three-year highs, underscoring how eager ​investors were to seize on any hint of good news.
“I don’t think the market’s being too ⁠optimistic. I think what happened last week was just an over-reaction,” said Nick Kennedy, FX strategist at Lloyds.
“Trump’s not the ​most consistent messenger of what he intends to do but investors are assessing the outlook more practically.”
Governments could step in with oil ​reserve releases and the approaching midterms might also prompt Trump to moderate his approach, he added.
Energy ministers from the Group of Seven were set to discuss soaring energy prices on a call on Tuesday, while a group of European Union leaders were expected to do so later in the ​day, officials said.

The safe-haven dollar slipped 0.1% to $1.1645 against the euro and was 0.1% stronger at 157.49 yen. The dollar index , ​which measures the greenback against a basket of six peers, fell 0.2%, but rebounded from a one-week low of 98.49 earlier.

PREFERRED SAFE HAVEN

The ‌dollar has ⁠been traders’ shelter-of-choice, given that the U.S. as a major oil producer is better positioned to withstand energy price shocks compared to other economies that rely on imports.
“Higher prices result in higher income for U.S. oil producers and exporters, and the increase in prices will also likely arrest the depreciation of the dollar that has been ongoing since Liberation Day,” said Jefferies’ chief U.S. ​economist Thomas Simons.
A Deutsche Bank ​analysis on Monday suggested larger ⁠market moves out of risky assets would only happen if oil prices were to stay at higher levels and there was a policy pivot from central banks, alongside tangible signs of ​a broader economic slowdown.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/dollar-eases-with-oil-hopes-swift-end-iran-war-2026-03-10/

Australian police extracted five Iranian women soccer players from the ​team’s hotel before they were granted asylum, the interior minister said on Tuesday, as details of their ‌escape from Iranian government minders emerged.
The five players, including team captain Zahra Ghanbari, sought protection after the team were branded “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing their national anthem before an Asian Cup match.

The team’s Asian Cup campaign began as the U.S. and Israel ​launched air strikes on Iran and Australian media reported the team had been accompanied by Iranian government ​officials who were controlling their movements.
Conversations with the players about seeking asylum had been ongoing ⁠for several days, Interior Minister Tony Burke told a press conference as he confirmed the women had been granted asylum in Australia.
The ​players granted asylum were Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali Alishah, Mona Hamoudi and Atefeh Ramezanizadeh – all in their early 30s – as well ​as 21-year-old Fatemeh Pasandideh.

MOVED TO SAFETY

The five players were moved to a safe location by the Australian Federal Police on Monday evening, where they remain under their protection, Burke said.

Even before their defection, Australia had deployed its own officers to protect the women.
“There’s been a ​good police presence at different points and we just made sure that opportunity was there,” he said.
Once immigration ​officials completed the processing of the women’s humanitarian visas around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday (1530 GMT Monday), celebrations broke out among those present.
“Once everything had been ‌signed ⁠off last night, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating, and then a spontaneous outcry of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi’,” Burke said.
“These women are great athletes, great people, and they’re going to feel very much at home in Australia.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/iranian-women-soccer-players-hotel-escape-aided-by-australian-police-2026-03-10/

The United States and China traded barbs at a U.N. drugs meeting on Monday, with Washington accusing Beijing of failing to stop sales of precursor ​chemicals for fentanyl and China dismissing the allegation as false while calling ‌the U.S. irresponsible.
The exchange, delivered in separate statements at the U.N.’s annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, underscored tensions between the two countries over illicit drugs and tariffs, with their ​leaders due to meet in China at the end of the month.

“We know where ​the chemical precursors (for fentanyl) are coming from. They are manufactured by ⁠the millions of tons in China,” Sara Carter, director of the White House Office ​of National Drug Control Policy, said as she delivered the U.S. statement.
“We know that ​China’s weak export controls and lax enforcement allow its chemical industry to foster friendships with the (drug) cartels. At the same time, China’s overly effective controls over rare earth minerals wreak havoc on legitimate ​industries.”
Under an agreement struck in South Korea last year between President Donald Trump and ​his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the U.S. agreed to trim tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing ‌cracking ⁠down on the illicit fentanyl trade, resuming U.S. soybean purchases and keeping rare earths exports flowing.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month invalidated a 10% fentanyl-related tariff Trump had imposed on China and others under an emergency statute. The Trump administration has told ​Beijing it expects to ​reimpose that levy ⁠under a different law, a U.S. official said.
“A certain country using the drug problem as a pretext has resorted to unilateral bullying ​and even interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, ​which … gravely ⁠harms global cooperation in drug control,” China’s statement delivered by envoy Gao Wei said, apparently referring to the United States.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-china-clash-over-fentanyl-tariffs-global-drugs-meeting-2026-03-09/

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams appeared at London’s High Court on Monday ‌for a civil lawsuit which aims to hold him liable for Irish Republican Army bombings in Britain, a case which could affect the prominent republican leader’s legacy.
Adams became Sinn Fein leader in 1983 when it was the IRA’s political wing, establishing himself as the best-known face of the movement seeking to ​end British rule in Northern Ireland.

He later reinvented himself as a peacemaker after helping secure the 1998 Good Friday ​Agreement, which largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict, known as the Troubles, in which some 3,600 people ⁠were killed.
Adams has always denied being a member of the Provisional IRA (PIRA), though he has long faced accusations – including from members ​of the paramilitary group – that he was involved in its campaign of killings.
The 77-year-old is now being sued by some of those ​injured in three bombings: one at London’s Old Bailey court in 1973, the PIRA’s first on the British mainland, and two 1996 blasts, targeting London’s Docklands and Manchester.

The three claimants are seeking a nominal 1 pound ($1.33) in damages and a finding that, on the balance of probabilities, Adams was a senior ​member of the IRA.
Adams’ lawyers argued in court documents that there was “no credible evidence to support the claimants’ allegation that (Adams) was a ​senior member of the PIRA”.

ADAMS SAYS PIRA SUPPORT IS NOT MEMBERSHIP

The claimants’ lawyer Anne Studd said on Monday that Adams was “so intrinsically involved in the ‌PIRA ⁠organisation that he is as culpable for the assaults… as the individuals who planted and detonated the bombs”.
She cited Adams’ attendance at high-level meetings with the British government in the early 1970s as supporting evidence, though Adams says he was there as a Sinn Fein representative.
Studd also said Dolours Price, one of nine people convicted over the Old Bailey bombing, previously accused Adams of involvement in the ​bombing campaign in Britain.

But Adams’ lawyers ​said Price, who died ⁠in 2013, was motivated by a desire for revenge against Adams, whom she believed had betrayed the republican cause through his involvement in the peace process.
They added that Adams had expressed support for ​supporters or members of the PIRA and its campaign, but that did not mean he ​was a member or “come ⁠close to constituting evidence that (Adams) was responsible for the three bombings”.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/northern-irelands-adams-uk-court-civil-trial-over-ira-bombings-2026-03-09/

THE woman charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting up Rihanna’s home called the pop superstar a “witch” and claimed she was going to “die” in a disturbing video before the attack.

A string of unhinged posts shared over the last few weeks lay bare 35-year-old Ivanna Lisette Ortiz’s alleged obsession with the Diamonds hitmaker.

Police claim the suspect fired multiple shots using an AR-15-style rifle – with several bullets striking Rihanna’s front gate and an RV parked on the driveway – after she drove to the star’s $14million Los Angeles home on Sunday.

Mom-of-three Rihanna was reportedly at home at the time of the disturbing incident but was not injured.

It is unclear whether anyone else, including her partner, A$AP Rocky, or their young children were in the property at the time.

Ortiz, from Orlando, Florida, remains in custody, and bail has been set at around $10.2million, officials confirmed to The U.S. Sun.

In the months leading up to the crime, Ortiz blasted the star in videos on her YouTube channel,c where she shares daily clips with the title, Praying Woman’s Journal.

“Rihanna, when you die, God is taking me to my future,” she tells viewers in one bone-chilling video from two months ago.

“You want to kill me? Shut the f*** up. Okay, shut the f*** up. Yeah, she’s a witch. She’s a witch. I’m a watchman. She’s a witch. Get that stupid girl out of here, okay,” she continues to ramble incoherently.

Other posts shared on Ortiz’s Facebook mention celebrities, including Rihanna, as she seemingly threatens the pop star.

On February 23, she wrote, “@badgalriri — Are you there? Cause I was waiting for your AIDS 5-head self to say something to me directly instead of sneaking around like you’re talking to me where I’m not at.”

She also shared a photograph of rapper Drake, with the caption, “When Drake found out Rihanna has AIDS #champagnepapi.”

There is no suggestion that her posts are true.

She referenced Rihanna as far back as December, even claiming she was “with @badgalriri” a month later, along with other stars tagged in her disturbing posts.

Ortiz also seemed angry at many female celebrities on her page, branding Kim Kardashian a “stupid b****,” adding, “Your turn hiding b****, stop begging for a look.”

Pictures show her in full glam with different hair styles, and in one, she appears next to several awards, writing, “Posing with my pageant trophies. Miss Teen Illinois Latina Princess 2006.”

She lists herself as living in Florida and is featured in earlier posts with a young girl, thought to be her daughter.

The U.S. Sun obtained filings from December 2025 that show a Florida appeals court upheld a ruling stripping Ortiz of all time-sharing rights with her child in her legal fight with ex, Jed Nikko Valdez Sangalang.

Ortiz had appealed a temporary order issued by a judge in Orange County that revoked her time-sharing entirely and barred her from having any contact with their child.

She filed for divorce in 2015, and the case docket shows it is still ongoing years later.

She was also previously charged after an alleged violent attack on her ex-partner in front of their young child, according to records.

Details about the exact outcome of that case remain limited, but Ortiz has a history of legal issues in Florida, including allegedly violating pretrial release conditions.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Sangalang for comment.

Meanwhile, Rihanna has yet to comment on the shooting incident.

A dispatch call from the Los Angeles West Division was reviewed by The U.S. Sun, and features an operator asking officers to attend to an address on Heather Road after reports of gunfire.

The call crackled over the radio, with the dispatcher relaying that the shots had come from across the street and that no one at the scene had a clear view of the suspect.

Witnesses said the gunfire came from a white Tesla, which was seen speeding away down Coldwater Canyon after “ten shots” were fired at the property’s gate.

For more than 10 minutes, officers scrambled for information as they tried to determine the Tesla’s exact model and license plate while investigators worked to pull nearby surveillance footage.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16059722/chilling-posts-rihanna-shooting-suspect-ivanna-ortiz/

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy early Tuesday at a depth of about 377 km, according to the USGS. Tremors were felt in parts of southern Italy, including Napoli in the Campania region, though no immediate reports of damage were reported.

A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 magnitude struck the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy early Tuesday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

The quake occurred at a depth of about 377 km (234 miles), making it a deep-focus earthquake, GFZ said.

Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the tremor at magnitude 6.0, with its epicenter located 16 km south-southeast of Sant’Angelo, Italy. The earthquake struck at 04:33:54 (UTC+05:30) at coordinates 40.564°N, 13.975°E, with a depth of about 373 km.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/europe/italy-earthquake-today-6-0-magnitude-quake-hits-southern-region-tremors-felt-in-naples-campania-article-153796482

The US designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” accusing the Taliban of holding Americans as leverage. Washington has also called for the reassessment of UN aid to Kabul.

The United States on Monday designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” accusing the ruling Taliban movement of holding Americans as leverage.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Taliban uses “terrorist tactics,” including kidnapping individuals for ransom or policy concessions, and warned that Afghanistan was unsafe for American travelers.

The “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention” designation places Afghanistan on a blacklist created under an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in September targeting governments accused of “hostage diplomacy.”

Iran received the same designation on February 27, a day before the US and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic.

‘Hostage diplomacy’ needs to stop, Rubio says

Rubio urged the Taliban to “cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever” and release Mahmood Habibi and Dennis Coyle, believed to be in Taliban custody.

According to Habibi’s family, the Afghan-American businessman and former head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation authority disappeared in Kabul in August 2022. However, the movement denies Habibi is in their custody.

The US State Department has offered a $5 million (€4.3 million) reward for information leading to his return.

Coyle, an academic, was detained in January 2025.

According to Reuters, the US is also demanding the return of the remains of Paul Overby, an author who was last seen near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan in 2014.

The US is mulling restrictions on the use of American passports for travel to Afghanistan, officials told Reuters.

US calls for reassessment of UN aid to Kabul

Meanwhile, US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told a Security Council meeting that Washington is “deeply skeptical of their [Taliban’s] willingness to meet their international commitments or respect Afghanistan’s international obligations.”

Waltz also urged a reassessment of international assistance to Afghanistan citing the Taliban’s denial of basic rights to women.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-us-accuses-taliban-of-hostage-diplomacy/a-76284731

G7 nations have said they are ready to take “necessary measures” to support the global supply of energy after the US-Israel war with Iran sent oil prices surging.

However, a meeting of G7 finance ministers and the International Energy Agency (IEA) ended without an agreement to release strategic crude reserves.

The oil price reached nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, over fears of a lengthy disruption to supplies, before falling back sharply after President Trump raised hopes the war would soon end.

At the virtual meeting, the option of releasing oil from stockpiles was one of several discussed as Fatih Birol, head of the IEA, said global oil markets “have deteriorated in recent days”.

Birol said: “In addition to the challenges of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a substantial amount of oil production has been curtailed. This is creating significant and growing risks for the market.

“IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.”

Following the meeting, French finance minister Roland Lescure said, “we are not there yet,” on the question of whether emergency stocks will be released.

If reserves are released it would be the first time since 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement following the meeting, the G7 said: “We stand ready to take necessary measures, including to support global supply of energy such as stockpile release.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Monday the UK used the meeting to call for “immediate de-escalation” in the Middle East and guaranteed security for ships in the region.

“I stand ready to support a co-ordinated release of collective IEA oil reserves,” she added.

Major disruption to energy supplies from the region threatens to push up prices for consumers and businesses around the world. Rising inflation could lead to fewer interest rate cuts by central banks.

About a fifth of the world’s oil supply is usually shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. But traffic through the narrow passage has all but halted since the war started more than a week ago.

The US and Israel launched fresh waves of airstrikes across Iran over the weekend, hitting multiple targets including oil depots.

Meanwhile, Iran targeted energy infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states. Overnight, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed two waves of drones heading towards a major oilfield.

Last week the markets had been relatively relaxed about the seemingly nightmare scenario of millions of barrels of crude and liquefied gas trapped in the Gulf.

But the escalations over the weekend, alongside scenes of destruction of energy infrastructure both in Iran and across the Gulf, saw the markets take rapid fright.

On Monday morning in Asia, the price of Brent crude jumped by more than 25% to touch $119.50 a barrel at one point before dropping below $90 after Trump told CBS the “war is very complete, pretty much”.

The US president has previously dismissed concerns about rising oil prices.

On Sunday, he posted on his Truth Social platform: “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”

“The question everyone is asking themselves is, what is the duration of this conflict?” Paul Gooden, head of natural resources at NinetyOne Asset Management, told the BBC’s Today programme.

“The longer it goes on, the more nervous the oil markets are going to be.”

He added that the oil price could rise to a level where “you see so-called demand destruction”, where consumers cut back their consumption of oil, which he considered to be $120-$150 a barrel.

“I think temporarily you could see an oil price in that range. I don’t think it can stay there… at some point there’ll be a resolution.”

Gas prices also jumped. UK gas prices for month-ahead delivery surged by nearly 25% to 171p a therm when trading started on Monday, before slipping back to about 149p a therm.

Gas prices have now almost doubled since before the war in Iran began, although they remain well below the 640p peak reached in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

US stock markets opened lower but rebounded later in the day, with the S&P 500 closing 0.8% higher and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up by 0.5%.

London’s FTSE 100 index recovered to end the day down just 0.3%, having initially fallen by as much as 1.86% to its lowest level for nearly two months.

Oil giants were among the biggest risers in London, with Shell’s shares climbing by 2.4% on Monday, and BP’s gaining 1.9%.

Elsewhere, Germany’s benchmark Dax index fell by 0.8% on Monday, while France’s CAC 40 ended the day 1% lower.

Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index had dropped 5.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi index closed down 6%.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79542n0grwo

This is the second time in five days that a ballistic missile fired from Iran was intercepted in Turkish airspace.

NATO said it shot down a second ballistic missile fired from Iran in Turkish airspace on Monday (Mar 9), prompting a stern warning from Türkiye to Tehran not to take “provocative steps”.

It was the second such incident in the skies over NATO member Türkiye in five days, leading the alliance to stress its readiness “to defend all allies against any threat”.

Washington meanwhile urged all American citizens to leave southeastern Türkiye, where US troops are stationed at several bases.

Since the US-Israeli attacks began, Iran has retaliated with strikes across the Middle East in a bid to hit American assets. But Türkiye appears to have been spared, despite the presence of US troops, including at Incirlik airbase just outside the southern city of Adana.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the missile incident the country would “take the necessary measures to defend our nation”.

“Despite our sincere warnings, extremely wrong and provocative steps continue to be taken that will jeopardise Türkiye’s friendship,” he said after a cabinet meeting.

“Persistence and stubbornness in wrongdoing should be avoided.”

Türkiye summoned the Iranian ambassador over the incident, foreign ministry sources said.

It did the same on Mar 4 after NATO forces also intercepted a Türkiye-bound ballistic missile launched from Iran.

FRAGMENTS HIT CONSTRUCTION SITE

Some fragments from the weaponry fell in open territory in the Gaziantep area, about 200km east of Adana, causing no injuries, the ministry added.

“At around 11.30am (4.30pm, Singapore time), a fragment of ballistic munition fell onto an empty area above the TOKI housing estate in the Guneysehir district of Gaziantep,” the governor’s office said, adding there was no damage.

Images from the scene appeared to show the missile fragment lying on the ground at a building site.

“We were sitting at home when suddenly we heard a big bang. Since there’s a construction site here, we thought the noise was coming from there. But when we came and looked, we saw the missile fragment,” local resident Ramazan Akpinar told DHA news agency.

He said it made a loud noise but there was “no explosion”.

In a post on X, presidential communications chief Burhanettin Duran said Türkiye would not hesitate to protect its airspace and border security.

“We once again strongly reiterate our warning to all parties, particularly Iran, to refrain from actions that could endanger regional security and put civilians at risk,” he wrote.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/nato-intercepts-second-iran-missile-turkiye-airspace-5981741

French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are planning a “purely defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore oil and gas flows.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (Mar 9) warned that an attack on Cyprus was an attack on all of Europe and said France and its allies were preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the Middle East war entered its second week.

Speaking during a visit to Cyprus to discuss regional security, Macron said the mission would be aimed at escorting container ships and tankers in order to gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz “after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict”.

“This is essential for international trade, but also for the flow of gas and oil, which must be able to leave this region once again,” said Macron in Paphos on the southwestern coast of Cyprus.

Speaking alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron said a “purely defensive, purely support mission” will be put together by European and non-European states.

The European Union on Monday said it was ready to “enhance” its operations to protect maritime traffic in the Middle East.

The EU has been discussing reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea after US-Israeli attacks on Iran triggered a broader regional war.

Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf waterway through which a fifth of global crude passes, has all but halted since the war broke out on Feb 28.

Macron visited Cyprus after the island nation and EU member was targeted by Iranian-made drones in early March.

The French leader said an attack on Cyprus was an attack on all of Europe.

“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” he said.

“We will not accept that the slightest piece of European territory, like Cyprus, be exposed to danger,” added Mitsotakis.

The drone attack in Cyprus led to France’s deployment of the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean, as well as a frigate and air defence units to the island.

Paris has insisted its stance in the region is “strictly defensive”.

“FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION”

Later Monday, Macron was set to board the Charles de Gaulle carrier, which according to his office is currently stationed off the coast of Crete.

Once on board, Macron will speak with the sailors serving in the carrier strike group, the Elysee said.

France’s flagship is at the heart of a French naval operation that will also mobilise eight frigates and two amphibious helicopter carriers in a vast area including the eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, he said.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/macron-france-europe-cyprus-iran-war-us-israel-5982301

The Israeli Defence Forces said it carried out a precision strike in Beirut that killed five senior commanders of the IRGC Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps. The operation comes as the US-Iran-Israel conflict intensifies, with missile attacks and retaliatory strikes spreading across West Asia.

The Israeli Defence Forces shared on Monday that it has eliminated five senior commanders in the IRGC Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps in a precise strike in Beirut.

In a post on X, it noted that those eliminated were Daoud Ali Zadeh, Commander of the Lebanon Corps; Majid Hassini, who was responsible for transferring funds to branches of Iran in Lebanon; Ali Reza Bi-Azar, Commander of the intelligence sector of the Lebanon Corps; and Hasan Ahmadlo, an intelligence operative in the Lebanon Corps, among others.

The IDF said that these were eliminated in the Roaring Lion Operation.

Additional Iranian military figure eliminated

Oslo police said Sunday (Mar 8) an explosion at the US embassy in Norway overnight may have been an act of terror, but stressed they were also investigating other possible causes.

The blast, which caused no injuries and minor material damage, occurred around 1am local time at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section.

Police said an “explosive device” had caused the blast that targeted the embassy, but did not provide any other details.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called the incident “very serious and completely unacceptable”. In a statement, he said he had spoken with the head of the US embassy in Oslo on Sunday.

Shattered glass could be seen in the snow outside the building’s entrance, as well as cracks in a thick glass door. Overhead lamps dangled from wiring, and there were black marks on the ground at the foot of the door, presumably from the blast.

“One of the hypotheses is that it is an act of terrorism,” Frode Larsen, the head of the police’s joint unit for investigation and intelligence, told public broadcaster NRK.

“But we are not completely stuck on that. We have to be open to the possibility that there may be other causes behind what has happened,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of a news conference.

Police were searching for the perpetrators but had “no suspects” yet, Larsen told journalists.

Oslo police official Grete Lien Metlid appeared to confirm that an explosive had been thrown at the embassy.

Asked by a reporter if the device used was a hand grenade, she replied: “We haven’t said anything about what was thrown.”

LINK TO MIDDLE EAST WAR?

US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran, and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.

Investigators in Oslo have not ruled out a possible link to the war in the Middle East.

“It is natural to see this in connection with the current security policy situation,” Larsen said, adding that police had increased security at the scene after the attack.

Prime Minister Store said security had also been beefed up at “at other American, Israeli, and also Jewish targets” in Norway, but stressed that “nothing indicates that the situation is dangerous for people in Oslo or elsewhere in the country”.

The Norwegian security service PST told AFP it had called in extra staff to assist police with the investigation.

Spokesman Martin Bernsen stressed there had been “no change” to the threat assessment level in the Scandinavian country, which has been at three on a five-point scale since November 2024.

He did not say if any threats had been made against US interests in Norway prior to the explosion.

Investigators examined the scene overnight, while dogs, drones, and helicopters were brought in to search for the perpetrators, Oslo police said in a statement.

Security is normally high outside US embassies worldwide. It was not immediately known what security the Oslo embassy had at the time of the incident.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/norway-police-says-possible-terror-motive-in-us-embassy-blast-5979871

Filipino nurses are highly trained and recruited overseas, but this exodus is straining hospitals at home. In the first of a four-part series, CNA looks at the global nursing shortage and how countries are holding on to their healthcare staff.

For 18 years, nurse Ralph Ching has worked at the Dr Jose N Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium, a public facility in Caloocan City, Metro Manila.

But the 39-year-old will soon leave the Philippines, in search of a healthier work-life balance.

He applied for a job in the United States through an agency that specialises in recruiting nurses. It did not take him long to find one.

“They were hiring so fast. I was fortunate enough to find an employer willing to finance (my move). They financed everything – from review to registration, including the visa processing,” he told CNA.

Ching’s story is not unusual. Across the Philippines, both veterans like him and newly licensed nurses are weighing their options.

For many, the profession is still a noble calling – but it is also seen as a ticket to a better life abroad.

PAIN POINTS AT HOME

The pressures Filipino nurses face at home are well known: modest pay, long hours, heavy workloads and uncertain job stability.

Entry-level nurses in public hospitals earn around 40,000 pesos (US$700) a month, while overseas positions can offer several times that figure – a temptation that many say is hard to ignore.

In public hospitals, permanent government positions – known as plantilla posts and highly sought after – are limited and tied to budget allocations.

Hospitals often hire nurses on contract arrangements to fill immediate gaps. These roles may provide an income, but do not always come with the same long-term security or benefits as plantilla posts.

Last year, Ralph Garcia, 24, passed the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination, the national nursing board exam, and is well aware of the profession’s demands.

He is not planning to build his career at home.

“The quality of life that I could have abroad is going to be better than staying here in the Philippines,” he said.

Educators said this mindset is common among nursing students.

“Times have changed. When I interview students, ‘What is your primary motivation? Why do you want to take up nursing?’

“They usually say they want to help their family, and helping their family means they have to leave the country,” said John Lorena, dean of St Luke’s College of Nursing at Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City.

“I cannot do anything about it because that’s the sad reality.”

A GLOBAL EXPORT

The Philippines has supplied nurses to the world for decades.

Today, about 300,000 to 350,000 Filipino nurses are working overseas, according to the Department of Health, but the country is short of about 160,000 nurses.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa says the country did not arrive at this point overnight.

Large numbers began going to the US in the 1960s, particularly after changes in US immigration laws increased demand for foreign-trained healthcare workers.

In the decades that followed, recruitment expanded to the Middle East, Singapore and other English-speaking countries, Herbosa noted.

Today, demand has widened. “Even non-English speaking countries want our nurses,” he said.

Herbosa attributes that demand to the Philippines’ decades-old nursing education system, taught in English and shaped by American healthcare standards – a combination that makes Filipino nurses readily deployable overseas.

“Our nurses are globally accepted, and it seems that most countries that are developing health systems try to hire Filipino nurses … I now consider it not a problem, but our soft power,” he added.

That global demand has translated into significant economic flows for the country.

In 2024, Filipinos abroad sent home a record US$38.34 billion in personal remittances, according to central bank data.

There is no official breakdown for healthcare workers, but groups such as Filipino Nurses United estimate that nurses contribute around US$8 billion annually.

THE COST AT HOME

While remittances strengthen the economy, the outflow of trained nurses has strained the country’s health system, where staffing levels at some hospitals are stretched far beyond recommended nurse-to-patient ratios.

“One nurse would be dealing with 25 patients, 50 patients, when in fact it’s recommended that there should be one nurse to three patients,” said Jacquelyn Galler-Nicolas, programme head and dean of the College of Nursing at Our Lady of Fatima University in Valenzuela City.

At Dr Jose N Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, nurse supervisor Liza Policarpio says the strain is constant.

“It’s what we say when we’re joking around – one nurse is to one ward. For 100 patients, sometimes you only have two nurses. So, of course, that results in burnout for our nurses.”

The pressure affects not only patient care but also morale within the system.

“Our nurses are really displaced. In our current system, that’s what happens because the programmes we have are unclear about the welfare and the future of our nurses,” said the hospital’s chief nurse, Samuel Sumilang.

Over time, the workload takes an emotional toll.

“Nursing is a very stressful profession. You go to bedside, you are dealing with death, you are dealing with sadness, you are dealing with grief, you are dealing with irate patients and irate family. It’s like going to the battlefield every day,” Galler-Nicolas said.

Yet the government does not plan to stop nurses from leaving.

“Why will I ban people from getting a better life elsewhere? If there are nurses and there are better offers for their jobs, that is their personal choice. This is a democratic country, so if you want to leave, it is up to you,” Herbosa said.

OFFERING INCENTIVES TO REMAIN

Instead, the health secretary said the focus is on making local nursing jobs more attractive.

“We’re trying to be competitive with our salaries. We’ve started to increase the government salaries for nurses, which are much higher than that of the private sector,” he said.

As salaries increased, Herbosa added, some private hospitals began adjusting their own pay to remain competitive.

The government is also working on improving benefits beyond pay, including housing and car loans, as well as health insurance coverage, so that (nurses) will be discouraged to leave the country and stay with their families.

Another strategy is supporting career growth. Scholarships are being offered for master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing, allowing nurses to advance professionally and earn higher salaries, Herbosa said.

He added that the government is trying to reduce what he described as arrangements where private recruitment agencies “pirate” nurses from the country. Instead, he prefers government-to-government agreements that set clear terms.

Under this approach, nurses could be deployed abroad for a fixed period – for example, six months to a year – before returning to the Philippines. The aim is to make the arrangement more of an exchange than a one-way loss of talent.

The Philippines has also signed agreements with countries such as Germany and Austria, linking nurse deployment with grants, scholarships or equipment support.

“It must be equally beneficial. It cannot be one way in which the rich countries just get our nurses that we train. They’ve got to have some conscience to also help develop the health system that they’re pirating the nurses from.”

BOOSTING THE DOMESTIC HEALTHCARE SECTOR

At the same time, Herbosa said the country must expand its nursing workforce.

A moratorium on opening new nursing schools – first imposed in 2011 over concerns about oversupply and declining training standards – was lifted in 2022 following a review during the COVID-19 pandemic, when both domestic and global demand for nurses surged.

The effort to train more nurses is backed by stronger public financing, he added, noting that healthcare is now among the top three spending priorities of the government.

In 2024, healthcare expenditure accounted for about 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Revenue from tobacco and alcohol taxes, introduced under reforms passed in 2012, has helped strengthen health financing over the past decade, Herbosa added, supporting hospital upgrades and health worker benefits, including during the pandemic.

These workforce measures sit alongside broader structural reforms.

In 2019, the country passed the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, which aims to automatically enrol Filipinos in the national health insurance system and strengthen access to care nationwide.

But expanding coverage also requires enough trained health workers to deliver services, particularly in rural and underserved areas, Herbosa noted.

Under the National Health Workforce Support System, mandated by the UHC law, the Department of Health deploys nurses and other health workers to local government units that lack sufficient staff.

“We give them higher pay and some incentives, like a scholarship for master’s (degrees) and then other perks to attend conferences. And they actually prefer staying as what we call rural health nurses,” Herbosa added.

He said some nurses prefer working in such community-based settings rather than large urban hospitals, which are often busier. That preference is one reason some government hospital positions remain vacant, he said.

The nursing curriculum is also being adjusted to align with the country’s shift toward primary care and community-based services.

“Previously, the curriculum was hospital-based, so it was easy for (nurses) to transfer to hospitals that were built abroad. So today, we’re trying to address the gaps in the healthcare system by tweaking the curriculum slightly,” he added.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/nurses-beyond-borders-philippines-migration-overseas-home-job-5976451

RIHANNA is lining up a VERY special guest to crown her massive comeback album, a source close to the superstar has told The U.S. Sun.

The pop star is set to release new music for the first time in 10 years, as she confirmed long-held rumors with a recording studio photo earlier this month.

The mom of three, 37, has been putting family first with her kids, partner A$AP Rocky and her businesses taking center stage.

But The U.S. Sun has spoken to an insider who says Rihanna has been quietly recording new material over the past several months while moving between studios in Los Angeles, New York and Paris.

The source claims the new project will feature her longtime boyfriend A$AP.

The rapper is believed to already appear on multiple songs, with the couple reportedly recording several tracks together during recent studio sessions.

“They’ve recorded a few songs together, and he’s featured on at least three tracks so far,” the source said.

While Rocky has been involved in the creative process, the insider says he has been careful to ensure the project ultimately belongs to his partner.

The pair’s creative chemistry, however, is said to have influenced the decision to collaborate on multiple songs.

“He’s been a strong source of support, but he’s careful not to overstep,” the source explained.

“He understands that this is her project. He’s there to show love and encouragement, and if she asks for advice, he happily gives it.

“They feel deeply connected and want to share that energy through music.”

Rihanna has reportedly written a significant number of new songs for what will become her ninth studio album, with the help of additional collaborators.

“She’s getting back into the rhythm of making music because she truly misses creating,” the source said. “It’s such an important part of her life, and she wants to fully embrace her talent again.

“She’s written a significant number of songs, and if she wanted to she could probably release an album next month. But she’s taking her time.”

The singer wants the new record to reflect this new phase of her life.

After years of releasing music focused on love and heartbreak, Rihanna hopes to release music that captures the experiences that have shaped her in recent years.

“She’s more mature now,” the source said. “She wants this album to represent the life she’s living today.”

The highly anticipated project is currently expected to arrive around 2027.

A$AP Rocky, 36, is said to be completely behind Rihanna as she prepares to dive back into performing.

The rapper recently made his own comeback after stepping away from the spotlight for nearly eight years, returning with his fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb.

The project debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking one of the biggest moments of his career in recent years.

The U.S. Sun also understands talks are underway for a major stadium tour that could see Rihanna return to the global stage in 2027 or 2028.

There have been discussions about a string of extensive European dates including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium in the UK; San Siro in Milan and the Olympic Stadium in Rome; Stade de France, Paris La Défense Arena, Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, and Parc Olympique Lyonnais in France.

The iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid has also been mentioned.

While her music output had dried up, Rihanna hasn’t just been sitting around idly.

In 2017, she launched Fenty Beauty, a cosmetics brand that quickly became a massive success.

Her business portfolio expanded soon after with Savage X Fenty, a lingerie and lifestyle company that has also performed exceptionally well.

Fenty Beauty was a commercial hit from the start.

In its first month alone, the brand generated roughly $72million in sales and rapidly sold out of popular items like foundation.

By the end of 2018, annual revenue had climbed to nearly $570million, and according to Forbes, the brand’s total value reached around $2.8billion, with Rihanna owning about half of the company.

Meanwhile, Savage X Fenty also took off quickly, reaching an estimated $1billion valuation during its early funding rounds.

The superstar has overseen major revenue growth while expanding the brand’s VIP membership program.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16045176/rihanna-album-asap-rocky-world-tour-comeback/

OVER 70 people have been arrested as Spring Break chaos erupts for the first time this year with thousands of seniors gathering for ‘Skip Day.’

Cops descended on a huge gathering of students at a Buc-ee’s in Texas City on Friday morning where many were found with drugs, weapons, and committing driving offenses.

Other arrests took place on Galveston Island as Friday’s planned “Senior Skip Day” kicked Spring Break off with a bang.

“Literally hundreds, if not thousands, of seniors and probably every other age student showed up at Buc-ee’s, and we arrested 55 of them,” Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen told Fox affiliate KRIV.

Officers were informed a week ago of the secret March 6 senior meet-up coming out of Houston which would see the students meet at the Texas City Buc-ee’s before heading to the island.

Officers began their crackdown before 9am on Friday and Fullen revealed that 10 firearms were confiscated at the scene, two of which had been reported stolen.

“The amount of guns that we took off these kids, could have made it to our beaches and probably could have been used in a nefarious way,” Fullen said, calling the operation “extremely successful.”

The cops stationed behind the Buc-ee’s also seized drugs and cash, KRIV reported.

Meanwhile, on Galveston Island, Police Chief Doug Balli revealed that some terrifying weapons did make it across.

Of the 12 arrests made, eight were for prohibited weapons, he told the outlet.

“Four of those weapons were fully automatic which is scary and with large capacity magazines so these were able to fire off 33-35 rounds in about two seconds.”

He added that traffic and overcrowding were the biggest issues and officials were forced to shut down beaches.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16054399/spring-break-chaos-texas-arrests-galveston-island/

A 30-year-old woman was arrested Sunday after allegedly firing several shots with a rifle at the Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion belonging to pop star Rihanna while the singer was allegedly inside her house.

Los Angeles police responded to the report of the shooting at 1:21 p.m. Sunday and quickly took the suspect into custody, a spokesperson told the California Post. One bullet reportedly pierced a wall of the home.

Photos from the scene showed yellow police tape outside the singer’s home. Los Angeles police officers were also seen closing off the street near the star’s property.

It is not apparent if Rihanna’s partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, and their three kids — RZA, 3, Riot Rose, 2, and 5-month-old Rocki Irish Mayers — were also in the house when the shots were fired.

No injuries were reported in the incident, according to Police Sgt. Jonathan de Vera, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department who spoke to the Los Angeles Times regarding the incident.

The LA Times also reported that the police dispatch for the incident noted “approximately 10 shots” being fired at the house, which came from a vehicle across the street from the residence.

The suspect then sped off in a white Tesla, heading south on Coldwater Canyon Drive, according to the dispatch audio.

A source close to Rihanna’s family told the Post, “they are all doing okay.” The singer has not yet publicly commented on the incident.

No other information, including motive for the shooting, is known at this time.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/03/08/celebrity-news/rihannas-beverly-hills-mansion-hit-by-gunfire-while-singer-was-at-home-30-year-old-woman-arrested/

Jennifer Runyon, known for her roles in “Ghostbusters,” “Charles in Charge,” “A Very Brady Christmas” and others, has died at the age of 65.

As reported first by TMZ, the actress’ family shared an announcement on her Facebook page Sunday. “This past Friday night our beloved Jennifer passed away, it was a long and arduous journey that ended with her surrounded by her family,” it read.

“She will always be remembered for her love of life and her devotion to her family and friends. I know from above she’s looking down on all of us with her beautiful smile. Rest in peace our Jenn.”

A representative for Runyon was not immediately available to Page Six.

No cause of death was given; however, according to “Bewitched” actress Erin Murphy, who posted a tribute to her friend Runyon Sunday on social media, Runyon had been battling cancer.

“So sad to share that my friend Jennifer Runyon Corman has passed away after a brief battle with cancer,” she wrote.

“Some people you just know you’ll be friends with before you even meet. She was a special lady,” she added.

Runyon appeared in the 1984 classic movie “Ghostbusters” and was also well-known in the role of Gwendolyn Pierce on ’80s sitcom “Charles in Charge.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/03/08/celebrity-news/ghostbusters-charles-in-charge-star-jennifer-runyon-dead-at-65/

King Charles III will hail the value of traditional alliances and international friendships at a time of “increasing pressures of conflict” in his Commonwealth Day message.

The annual celebration of the Commonwealth, to be marked on Monday with a service at Westminster Abbey, will see the biggest gathering of senior royals since the arrest of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

There will also be contributions at the service from performers including former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner and Strictly Come Dancing’s Oti Mabuse.

Against a backdrop of war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the King will commend the unifying force of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 countries.

“It is often in such testing moments that the enduring spirit of the Commonwealth is most clearly revealed,” the King’s message will say.

The King, who has campaigned for many years to protect the environment, will also reflect, in his written message, on pressures from “climate change and rapid transformation”.

He will say the Commonwealth is a “force for good – grounded in community, committed to the kind of restorative sustainability that has a return on investment, enriched by culture, steadfast in its care for our planet, and united in friendship and in the service of its people”.

The reference to the significance of climate change is in contrast to the approach of the administration of President Donald Trump in the US, who last month reversed a ruling that underpinned federal attempts to curb greenhouse gases.

There have been reports that the King could carry out a state visit to the US next month, but nothing has so far been confirmed.

The annual Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey is usually attended by senior royals, political and religious leaders, and representatives of Commonwealth nations.

The multi-faith service, held since 1972, is a mixture of music, prayers, dance and readings, reflecting the diversity of the Commonwealth. But unlike in recent years, the service is not being broadcast live by the BBC because of “funding challenges”.

Also taking part will be dancers from the Royal Ballet School, and singers Indigo Marshall and Tarju Le’Sano, and there will be a new piece of music by composer Rekesh Chauhan.

The Commonwealth’s Secretary General, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, will speak at the service.

Among the future issues facing Commonwealth leaders will be whether Mountbatten-Windsor should keep his place in the line of succession, after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office last month, and in the wake of revelations from the Epstein files.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yk7qxz4kgo

Rapper Balendra Shah has defeated the former Nepalese Prime Minister Sharma KP Oli in his parliamentary constituency, as he takes a step closer to becoming Nepal’s next prime minister.

Nepal’s Election Commission confirmed on Saturday that Shah, 35, received 68,348 votes compared to Oli’s 18,734 to unseat the former leader in his constituency.

Thursday’s general election – the first since violent youth-led protests toppled the government in September – pitted the establishment against a new generation of politicians advocating for angry, young Gen Z voters hungry for change.

Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is now seemingly on course to win the general election.

The party has a majority in directly elected seats in the general election counted so far, according to partial official results on Sunday, and could be heading for a landslide, official trends suggest.

The 35-year-old is also leading in the proportional representation vote count so far, according to the election commission.

For more than two decades, Nepal has seen a revolving door of coalition governments, largely dominated by three parties, two of them communist.

Ahead of this election, it looked set to test whether Gen Z voters had succeeded in convincing the rest of the country that it is time for a new, untested generation to shape their future, or whether veteran heavyweights – who have dominated for decades – would keep hold of power.

The country’s youth included 800,000 first-time voters, making them a key voter bloc.

Shah, who is popularly known as Balen, has been a member of the Nepali hip hop scene for several years. One of his songs, Balidan, about sacrifice in the Nepali language has millions of YouTube views.

In September 2025 unrest erupted in Nepal with so-called Gen Z demonstrations, triggered by Oli’s banning of social media platforms.

The demonstrations escalated with protesters criticising Nepal’s political system and the symbolism of class inequality “nepo babies” – children of the country’s politicians.

A total of 77 were killed during the protests, and a BBC investigation revealed the country’s police chief issued an order allowing the use of lethal force against thousands of unarmed protesters.

Shah spoke in support of the protesters and at one stage called Oli a “terrorist” who had betrayed his country.

The rapper typically shuns the media, but told the Financial Times while he was on the campaign trail he would be “the candidate for all of Nepal”.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93w6y0lnd9o

An overnight explosion at the US embassy in Oslo may have been an act of terrorism, Norway’s police have said.

The embassy in the Norwegian capital sustained minor damage after the blast in the early hours of Sunday – but no-one was injured.

“One of the hypotheses is that it is an act of terrorism, but we are not completely locked into it,” Frode Larsen, the head of police joint investigation and intelligence unit, told Norway’s public broadcaster NRK.

Norwegian authorities say they are in contact with US diplomats, and an investigation into the incident is now under way.

A US State Department spokesperson said they are “aware of an incident at the US Embassy in Oslo” and are investigating.

Speaking to NRK later on Sunday, Larsen stressed that “we have to be open to the possibility that there may be other causes behind what has happened”.

In an earlier statement, Norway’s police said that “large resources” were sent to the area around the US embassy at about 01:00 local time on Sunday (00:00 GMT).

“The police are in dialogue with the embassy and no injuries have been reported,” the statement added.

Michael Dellemyr, who is leading the police response, told NRK that the explosion was at the public entrance to the building.

He said police officers had conducted searches in the area around the embassy in the Morgedalsvegen district of Oslo, about 7km (4 miles) outside the city centre.

He said the police had also issued an appeal for information from anyone who may have seen or heard anything about the incident.

Photos posted on social media later showed shattered glass in the snow outside the entrance to the consular section of the building, cracks in a glass door as well as dark marks on a tiled floor.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yjegg892lo

Women in Germany who wish to have careers and families face systemic challenges. The German sociologist Jutta Allmendinger sees reason for optimism, with countries like Iceland showing the way.

The goal of many young parents in Germany is for both partners to be able to work, spend time with their children and share household responsibilities. In practice, however, patterns often persist that favor men in mixed-gender couples. Women are still significantly more likely to work part-time, while men are more frequently the primary earners.

This imbalance is reflected in the latest gender pay gap data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. The figures for 2025 show that the gap remains wide.

German sociologist Jutta Allmendinger said the discrepancy was not for a lack of good intentions. Allmendinger is an honorary professor at Free University of Berlin and sits on several advisory bodies, including the German Ethics Council. She served as president of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center until 2024. “When we ask couples what would happen if they had a child now, 80% of men say they would reduce their working hours and they would want an equal split,” Allmendinger said. “In the end, though, things often turn out differently.”

Financial incentives send the wrong signal

There are several reasons why traditional divisions of labor in the home persist. One is the fact that men still earn more than women on average. That means that women are more likely to take parental leave or shift to part-time work, which incidentally makes them less likely to advance into leadership positions. What’s more, Germany’s tax system favors married couples in which one partner earns significantly more than the other. “That leads to couples dividing their responsibilities in response to tax rules, not according to any principles of fairness they themselves had agreed on,” Allmendinger said.

In her view, this is where policymakers must step in and take action. If the goal really is equality, she said, then such tax concessions need to be abolished. Allmendinger is not the only one to voice criticism: Germany’s approach to splitting married couples’ income has been hotly debated in recent years.

Germany’s East-West divide

When it comes to gender equality, Germany still shows a clear East-West divide. In the eastern German states — the area that used to be in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) — fewer women work part-time, and career breaks tend to be shorter, even with the usual structural challenges.

Cultural habits play a big role, Allmendinger said. “In West Germany, the model was the single-earner marriage. A ‘good family’ was one where the husband worked and the wife didn’t have to — with the emphasis on ‘have to,'” she said. In the former East, by contrast, it was normal and socially accepted for both parents to work. That legacy still shapes choices today.

The differences even shows up in pensions. Women in the east tend to have smaller gaps in retirement income compared with men. In western Germany, the gap is much wider, reflecting different work patterns over a lifetime.

When it comes to trying to balance a career and family, young parents across Germany — and mothers in particular — face similar pressures. The strain can be considerable, and that takes its toll, Allmendinger said. Over the past two to three years, she has observed growing polarization among women who are no longer able to uphold a constant balancing act. Some are embracing the conservative so-called tradwife movement and electing to stay at home full-time. Others are focusing solely on their careers and are choosing not to have children. “While that’s not the majority,” she said, “it’s a growing trend.”

Rethinking working hours

What would help to make choices about career and family better for both parents? Allmendinger said the solution must be sustainable. The standard 40-hour workweek for everyone, with no concession made for unpaid child care, isn’t realistic. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Allmendinger has proposed a new standard: a 33-hour workweek for all. “My concept is for men to slightly reduce their average working hours, and for women to slightly increase theirs,” she said. “Not only would that not reduce the overall total work volume compared to what we have now, it would actually increase it.” In her model, both parents would have the time and flexibility to share child care and household responsibilities.

Greater flexibility throughout one’s career is also essential, she said. “We all know there are phases when you may need to work just 28 hours, and other periods when you can work much more. I think it’s absurd that in Germany the time to start a family coincides with the peak phase of career advancement.”

Child care is another crucial factor, of course — not just day care centers, but schools, too. “I see more and more women choosing to homeschool their children, because Germany’s school system is getting worse,” she said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/international-womens-day-workplace-equality-needs-action/a-76210160

No more lecturing from Germany: International law seems less important to Chancellor Friedrich Merz since the US and Israel’s attack on Iran. Is this a new foreign policy strategy from Berlin?

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not want to lecture Donald Trump about international law. So, he didn’t, at least not during the public part of his visit to the White House. This was despite most experts agreeing that the US-Israeli attack on Iran breached international law.

After the attack on Iran by the US and Israel, Merz spoke of the “dilemma” that nothing had been achieved against the leadership of Iran via international legal measures in recent decades. Friedrich Merz lamented both in Germany’s Bundestag federal parliament and on trips overseas the end of a rules-based international order and of multilateralism.

What is behind this? “It is not so much about how the German government really assesses the Israeli-American course of action, rather it is about calming the transatlantic relationship,” Henning Hoff from the German Council on Foreign Relations told DW. Above all, Merz did not want to publicly anger or contradict Trump.

‘Complicated’ legal status and Israel’s ‘dirty work’

In the meantime, Friedrich Merz is displaying a type of quiet tolerance of Trump’s approach. He does not fully approve of it, expresses doubts, but does not condemn it.

This is not an entirely new approach. Following the US attack on Venezuela in January and the abduction of its leader Nicolas Maduro, the chancellor evasively labeled the legal situation “complicated,” despite this military intervention also being unanimously considered to be against international law.

And in June last year, when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, the chancellor said: “That is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.”

“In reality, the chancellor arguably has a situational relationship with international law,” said Hoff.

Is international law a safeguard for terrorist regimes?

This approach has not been well-received across German politics, even within the governing coalition, which comprises the two conservative Union parties — Merz’ Christian Democratic Union (CDU) plus the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) — and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). SPD foreign affairs spokesperson Adis Ahmetovic said: “We share the goal of Iran not being allowed to have atomic bombs.” However, that did not justify “a war with unforeseeable consequences for the entire region.”

Opposition parties are taking a harder line. Author and longtime Green Party member Jürgen Trittin, who served 25 years as a Green MP in the Bundestag, said: “To openly stand against international law now violates Germany’s fundamental security interests.”

Lea Reisner, a Bundestag MP from the socialist Left Party, called Merz’ meeting with Trump an “undignified, but most of all fruitless performance.” The chancellor had “allowed Trump to parade him around as a background actor,” who, after three minutes of speaking time, offered 30 minutes of merely “nodding in agreement.”

CSU Bundestag parliamentarian Alexander Hoffmann countered, arguing that while international law was of the highest importance, “it is not allowed to become a safeguard clause for terrorist regimes.” He added that the focus must be on “unequivocally demonstrating solidarity with the US.”

In an interview with the private NTV channel, Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader of Germany’s largest opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany, clearly distanced himself from the attack by the US and Israel, also criticizing President Donald Trump. He said Trump started out as a peace president, but would end up as a “war president.” His choice of words drew criticism from the pro-Trump faction in his party. Several AfD members of parliament are in Washington again this week to meet with Republican politicians.

Priorities have changed

A year ago, Merz still sounded very different. He appeared shocked when Donald Trump humiliated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy live on camera during a meeting in the White House, blaming him in part for the war against his country. At that time, when he was not yet chancellor, Merz promised that it would be his top priority to strengthen Europe so that “step by step, we can achieve independence from the US.”

However, he has not given up on his goal, Henning Hoff thinks: “Merz knows that, after decades of neglect, Europe — especially Germany — needs time to build their own defensive and deterrent capabilities so that, if need be, they can prevent further aggression from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, even without the US. But that can’t happen overnight. It seems that Merz’s calculation is that in the meantime he will side with the Trump administration, just in case.” In addition, the chancellor also wants to “refrain from anything he thinks could harm the German economy right now.”

Spain feels betrayed by Merz

If this is the chancellor’s strategy, it comes at a price. European allies, the UK and Spain, noticed that Merz sat silently and did not defend them when Trump heavily criticized them for either hesitating (the UK) or refusing (Spain) to make their military bases available for an attack on Iran. During the Oval Office meeting, Merz also said Spain must be convinced to increase its NATO defense spending.

Merz said later that he defended both governments in one-on-one discussions with Trump. However, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares considered Merz’s conduct a betrayal. He expected “the same solidarity that Spain showed, for example, toward Denmark when there were tariff threats (by Trump) and the intention to deprive Denmark of its territorial integrity with regard to Greenland,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish broadcaster TVE. He could not imagine that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Merz’ predecessor Olaf Scholz would have made such statements, he said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iran-germany-and-the-end-of-the-rules-based-order/a-76227458

In a close race, the Greens won the state election in Baden-Württemberg, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU. The far-right AfD was the third strongest party, having made significant gains.

The confirmation came as the US issued a license authorising dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company.

The United States has received $100 million worth of gold from Venezuela, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum confirmed, as the Trump administration pointed to a broader push to assert control over the South American nation’s natural resources.

“On Friday, there was $100 million of gold that came from Venezuela to the United States. Venezuela’s got $500 billion of resources of gold,” Burgum said.

The confirmation came as the US issued a license authorising dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company. The move is being seen as part of Washington’s efforts to expand its influence over Venezuela’s vast mineral reserves.

The license was issued after Burgum met acting President Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela earlier this week. He also held discussions with representatives of more than two dozen US mining and minerals companies, many of which had previously operated in Venezuela.

According to Burgum, Venezuela’s government provided security assurances to mining companies interested in investing in mineral-rich regions that have long been controlled by guerrilla groups, gangs and other illegal actors.

Under the terms of the license, individuals and companies from Russia, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are barred from entering into contracts with Minerven. The restriction aligns with the Trump administration’s stated objective of countering China’s dominance over critical minerals, several of which are abundant in Venezuela.

The license is also aimed at advancing Washington’s plan to stabilise and restructure Venezuela following the capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by US forces two months ago.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/100-million-of-gold-arrived-from-venezuela-us-confirms-transfer-amid-mining-license-move-ws-l-9949623.html

Kurdish residents of northeast ​Syria warned Iran’s Kurds against aligning with the U.S. to fight the Iranian government, citing their own experience in Syria in recent ‌months as evidence their Iranian counterparts would be “abandoned.”
Iranian Kurdish militias based in northern Iraq have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether and how to attack security forces in western Iran, as the United States and Israel pound Iran with air strikes.

But Syria’s Kurds warned their Iranian counterparts against partnering with Washington.
“I hope that the Kurds of ​Iran will not ally themselves with America, because they will abandon them,” said Saad Ali, a 45-year-old resident of the northeastern Syrian Kurdish ​town of Qamishli.
“Tomorrow, if an agreement is made between them (the U.S.) and the Iranians, they will eliminate you. Do not ⁠make our mistakes,” he told Reuters.
Syrian Kurdish fighters aligned with the U.S. more than a decade ago to fight the Islamic State group, setting up ​their own semi-autonomous zone in the territory they had seized from the ultraconservative Islamist fighters.

But in January, Syria’s new army under President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured most of ​the Kurdish-held areas in a sweeping offensive. Syria’s Kurds called on the U.S. to intervene on their behalf, and felt betrayed when Washington instead urged them to merge with Sharaa’s forces.

A summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping this month is unlikely to create room for even a limited reset of business and investment ties, five people briefed on preparations said.
American business leaders at this stage have not secured ​the CEO delegation some had sought. On the other side, there is no indication Beijing is on track for the investment protections it has sought on behalf of Chinese ‌companies.

Washington and Beijing are looking to maintain the stability that has characterised relations between the world’s two largest economies since late last year after a bruising period marked by Trump’s tariffs and China’s chokehold on rare earths exports.
But some U.S. companies had also held out hope Trump’s visit could go further than a green light for the deals on Chinese purchases of soybeans and Boeing aircraft, already under consideration.

‘EVER-SHRINKING STATE VISIT’

Overshadowing the summit – the first Trump-Xi meeting since they agreed on the trade truce in October – ​has been Chinese frustration with the Trump administration’s last-minute planning for an event that normally takes months of painstaking preparations, three people with knowledge of the arrangements told Reuters.

Uncertainties, besides clearance for ​Chinese investment, include the thorny issue of Trump’s tariffs and whether he will be joined by the kind of high-profile business delegation that the leaders of ⁠Canada, Britain and Germany recently brought to China on their state visits.
“This feels like an ever-shrinking state visit. The ambition for what this trip will accomplish seems to be getting smaller by the day,” said Ryan ​Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
The White House, Treasury Department, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and China’s commerce and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment ​on prospects for the summit.
Trump is to visit China from March 31 to April 2, a U.S. official told Reuters last month. China has not confirmed the trip, but its top diplomat said on Sunday the agenda for the exchange was “on the table”.

“What is required is for both sides to make thorough preparations to create a conducive environment to manage existing differences,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing.
Washington only began working-level ​interagency planning meetings for the trip recently, leaving little time for a state visit that Beijing expects to be highly choreographed, two sources said.
U.S. officials view the visit as one of four potential Trump-Xi summits ​this year. A meeting in Paris this week between Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will focus on possible deliverables for the Beijing meeting, a person with knowledge of the evolving preparations said.
Trump’s ambassador to Beijing, David Perdue, ‌is pushing for ⁠a CEO delegation, and U.S. officials in China have made tentative outreach to companies, two sources said.

But USTR, which has been driving Washington’s summit agenda with Treasury, has been reluctant to bring CEOs, three sources said, to keep the focus on “managed trade”.

TARIFFS LOOM, BUT SUMMIT NOT ‘A FIGHT ABOUT TRADE’

The Trump team could still scramble a last-minute CEO delegation, three sources said. The China Development Forum, to which dozens of top American executives flock annually, will take place a week before the summit.
To secure Chinese investment in the U.S., Beijing wants security guarantees, two sources said, after the forced divestiture of TikTok in the U.S.
Trump invited Chinese automakers to build factories ​in the U.S. in January, but a U.S. official ​said the president has not pushed for an ⁠all-out effort to secure investment commitments from China, as he did with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Some Republican lawmakers have warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Washington should not lower guardrails against Chinese investment.
Tariffs remain a potential flashpoint.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month invalidated a 10% fentanyl-related tariff Trump had imposed on China and others ​under an emergency statute. The Trump administration has told Beijing it expects to reimpose that levy under a different law, a U.S. official said.
But the ​purpose of the summit is “not ⁠to fight about trade,” Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told ABC News last month.
“It’s to maintain stability, make sure that the Chinese are holding up their end of our deal and buying American agricultural products and Boeings and other things, and making sure they are sending us the rare earths that we need,” Greer said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/trumps-china-visit-likely-wont-yield-breakthrough-aims-maintain-stability-2026-03-08/

Youths are getting radicalised faster and subscribing to a more diverse range of extremist ideologies, the Internal Security Department said.

Dylan was in secondary school when he chanced upon a livestream of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.

The gunman, Brenton Tarrant, opened fire at two mosques, killing 51 people in an act of terror.

While the world looked on in horror, the footage fascinated Dylan. At the time, he regularly watched gore videos and had grown desensitised to violence.

“I did not really realise the severity of what was happening. And because of my fascination with violence, I don’t think I ever realised or thought of it as radicalisation,” he said.

A year later, the teenager planned a similar attack in Singapore.

He intended to target two mosques with a machete he had bought online. Like Tarrant, he planned to livestream the attacks by strapping his phone onto a tactical device, and he chose the anniversary of the Christchurch shootings for the date.

“I was very determined to commit the attack. I only foresaw two outcomes to planning the attack, which were either getting caught by the police early or having committed the actual attack,” he said.

The attack never materialised. Dylan, then 16, was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2020.

His case is not isolated. In its 2025 Terrorism Threat Assessment Report, the Internal Security Department (ISD) noted the uptick in the number of local self-radicalised youths against the backdrop of evolving technology, such as artificial intelligence.

Latest figures show that since 2015, 19 self-radicalised youths aged 20 and below were dealt with under the ISA, with more than two-thirds (14) identified in the last five years.

Youths are also getting radicalised faster and subscribing to a more diverse range of extremist ideologies, ISD said.

The average time taken for their self-radicalisation has almost halved – less than eight months between 2020 and 2025, compared with 14 months between 2015 and 2019. Some have been radicalised within weeks, the agency said.

CNA spoke to two formerly radicalised youths, Dylan and Farhan, about how they shed their beliefs. Their names have been changed to protect their identities.

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS

Before viewing the livestream of the terror attack in Christchurch, Dylan had already formed a negative view of Muslims after reading about the 2015 Paris attacks while he was in primary school.

Later, he came across Islamic State (ISIS) propaganda videos and wrongly concluded that ISIS represented Islam and that it encouraged violence against non-Muslims. Dylan eventually adopted Tarrant’s far-right manifesto.

When a terror attack killed three people at a church in Nice in October 2020, Dylan felt a sense of urgency to carry out an attack on Muslims. At the time, he believed his actions were “completely justified”, he said.

When he was detained, Dylan was shocked to be intercepted so quickly.

“I was also disappointed, while not sad, that I could not commit the attacks,” he said.

For Farhan, his extremist beliefs took root after he viewed a video showing Palestinian civilians being bombed by Israeli fighter jets in 2014.

“Enraged at the Israelis for harming innocent Palestinians, I became seized by the conflict, and kept abreast through videos and articles on social media. I came to believe that Israel was oppressing Palestinians, which deepened my hatred for Israel,” he said in a written response.

Farhan came to support Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB), in its fight against Israel.

Believing he would become a martyr if he died fighting against the “enemies of Islam” on the battlefield, he made preparations to travel to Gaza to fight alongside the group. These plans never materialised.

In 2019, Farhan watched a documentary on the Jewish community in Singapore and was angry that Jews were thriving peacefully while Palestinians were suffering.

He decided to conduct a knife attack against Jews at a local synagogue. To prepare for the attack, he made a replica knife to practice stabbing motions and made at least two reconnaissance trips to the synagogue.

“I thought what I wanted to do was for a good cause, which was to help Palestinians. I did not know that I was being radicalised,” he said.

Farhan was detained under the Internal Security Act when he was 20.

Youths who are radicalised do not actively seek out extremist ideologies, said Dr Muhammad Mubarak Habib Mohamed, a Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) mentor and tutor.

“Whether it is far-right, whether it is Islamic State, there are a lot of psychosocial factors that somehow push them right to a corner where this narrative speaks to their daily lived experience, and they find meaning in this,” he said.

“Because somehow or rather, they became invisible to adults who are around them. They fall through the cracks.”

For Dylan, the extremist beliefs provided him with a sense of belonging that his teenage self craved.

“And that sense of purpose that far-right extremism gave me was very appealing to me as a teenager, because I wanted to be bigger than myself,” he said.

UNLEARNING BELIEFS

Going into rehabilitation, Dylan had assumed it would be punitive, he said.

“But what surprised me was that there was a lot of support from the various stakeholders, from the case officers to the psychologists,” he said, adding that they helped him to correct his ideology and manage his emotions.

Dr Mubarak said each component of the rehabilitation, from counselling to mentoring, serves a distinct purpose.

Counselling addresses emotions, mentoring focuses on relationship-building, and tutoring rebuilds resilience in youths’ thinking processes, he said.

In his weekly tutoring sessions with Dylan, Dr Mubarak prepared him for the GCE N and O Levels.

The focus was on academics, but their conversations often went beyond that, he said.

“And knowing that me, myself, being a Muslim and also a religious teacher … That is when he also uses that time in order to check his misunderstanding about Islam, about his experience that he had in school with his friends.

“And that is where you bring in critical thinking in terms of ‘why did you think that way?’” said Dr Mubarak.

Central to Dylan’s rehabilitation were also his conversations with Pastor Joachim Lee, a volunteer religious counsellor and mentor for youths.

“When I met him, I just saw a misunderstood, misplaced young man who doesn’t know how to make sense of who he is,” said Pastor Lee.

Initially, Dylan was guarded and reserved, Pastor Lee said. The first thing he did was not to tear down Dylan’s beliefs, but to build a relationship.

“So I just sat, spoke to him, and treated him like another person. That opened doors for us, so he didn’t see me as an authority that came in to brainwash him, but someone who treated him with understanding. So that became our connection, our relationship,” he said.

It took some time to break the ice, he recalled. But as time went on, he began to see the gentler side of Dylan.

“He was very inquisitive. And what I liked was he kept (saying), ‘tell me more stories’,” Pastor Lee said.

In particular, Dylan asked questions about how Pastor Lee, as a Christian, could coexist with Muslims.

“So he became more and more curious. And I could see that by asking those questions, he wasn’t ‘me against you’,” he said.

The turning point for Dylan was about halfway through his three-year detention, during a joint religious counselling session hosted by Pastor Lee and other accredited Islamic teachers, or ustaz.

During the meeting, he was able to clarify doubts regarding Islam and Muslims in Singapore, including his concerns about Syariah law.

It helped him realise that Syariah law in Singapore was practicable in a secular society, he said.

Syariah law in Singapore applies to Muslims in specific personal and family matters, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody and related issues. It is administered under the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA).

“The idea of Syariah law that I had prior to my detention – which was moulded by what I saw in Islamic State propaganda – was a very strict and radical interpretation of the Syariah law,” he said.

“Through the ustaz, I got to learn that (for) Muslims in Singapore, Islam teaches peace, and to live in a cohesive society with people of other faiths.”

Dylan added that he met various Muslim stakeholders during rehabilitation, including volunteers, who treated him with genuine kindness and compassion.

The way they interacted with him reinforced the change in his views of Islam and Muslims, he said.

For Farhan, the turning point was after 30 days of interviews with ISD, at the beginning of the rehabilitation phase.

The rehabilitation partners taught him that there were two sides to the conflict, and that innocent civilians on both sides were affected, he said.

“I learnt that just taking one side without understanding the real background will not help anyone. I might only be making matters worse,” he said. “And whatever I do, I should not resort to violence.”

Ustaz Muhammad Shafaat Mohd Syonan, an RRG counsellor who worked with Farhan, said he could tell that Farhan was making progress when he began to smile more during sessions.

“How he responds, and the eagerness that they want to know more, and they are looking forward to the next session. Then you know that, okay, we have touched something. Touch the heart,” he said.

Rather than pushing a narrative, it was important for them to find common ground, he added.

“We want to help them. There’s a sincerity. If let’s say you’re willing to help them, they know he’s not just here to correct me, but actually help me to understand.”

FAMILY IS ALWAYS THERE

For both Farhan and Dylan, an important part of their rehabilitation process was their families’ support.

“Realising that my parents would take the time out of their day to come down to visit me and to give me the support that I really needed in such a difficult phase of life. I think I couldn’t have gone through the journey without them,” said Dylan, adding that they share a closer relationship today.

Dylan’s mother told CNA she found it difficult initially to accept the news of his radicalisation.

“I struggled to reconcile this information with the son I knew and could not accept that he could have harboured such thoughts. I was very emotional and cried a lot, trying to make sense of the situation,” she said.

The family made it a point to visit Dylan every week. They also had opportunities for special visits, where they could hug, hold him and celebrate special occasions together.

“We felt it was important for him to know that his family was always there for him,” his parents said in a joint written response.

Farhan’s family also paid regular visits to him while he was detained. During their visits, they would talk about his well-being and progress, his mother and sister said.

In the beginning, he was reserved and cautious, they recalled.

“As time went on and he began engaging more fully in rehabilitation, our conversations changed. They became more hopeful and future-looking. I could see changes in him – he became more talkative and more engaged with us,” his mother said.

SPOTTING THE SIGNS

Religious rehabilitation partners stressed the importance of family in spotting signs of radicalisation, especially with the growing use of technology among youths.

An emerging threat they highlighted was the rise of artificial intelligence, which can propagate extremist content through algorithms and fake news.

Extremist groups are calculated in their messaging and will find the opportunity to make themselves present, especially in the online world of gaming, social media and encrypted messaging platforms, said Ustaz Ahmad Saiful Rijal, an RRG counsellor.

“Of course, that’s where our young would associate themselves with, whether it’s their local friends or international friends. I think that’s where they find companionship,” he said.

That is where families, being the first to notice any changes at home, can look out for unusual signs that may deserve extra attention, Ustaz Rijal said.

According to ISD, possible signs of radicalisation include frequent surfing of radical websites, sharing extremist views online and with friends, and making remarks that promote ill-will or hatred towards people of other races, religions or communities.

The majority of youths investigated by ISD for potential radicalisation had exhibited early warning signs to their family and friends, such as expressing support for terrorist groups and the use of violence, ISD noted.

In Dylan and Farhan’s cases, the signs were not so obvious.

Dylan’s parents said they noticed changes in his behaviour when he was in Secondary 3. He had begun skipping co-curricular activity (CCA) sessions and became agitated when questioned.

“However, we believed these changes were part of the normal growing pains of adolescence rather than something more serious,” his parents said, adding that they responded by giving him more space instead of pressurising him.

Similarly, Farhan had shown no clear signs of radicalisation.

“He really shone during his school years,” said his sister, adding that he was a prefect who actively participated in his CCA activities and was often praised by his teachers for being hardworking.

Later, when Farhan would talk about the Palestinians in a general way, his family members understood it as sympathy for injustice and suffering.

“Without clear or overt warning signs, it was difficult for us to detect what was happening beneath the surface. It was only in hindsight that we realised how easily such views can develop without being obvious to family members,” his family members said.

Looking back, they wish they had known how far his thoughts had progressed earlier.

His mother said she would have taken firmer steps to place more control on his social media and internet use, while his sister said they would have sought help immediately.

“Our advice to other family members is to stay observant and involved, so that early intervention can happen if needed … Family members often notice small changes or signs that others may miss, and these small observations can make a real difference,” his family members added.

Dylan’s parents said that having a strong family foundation does not mean that radicalisation will not happen.

“The internet can be a double-edged sword and can influence young people in ways families may not realise. It could happen to anyone, especially as many youths today spend a lot of time online,” they said, adding that it is important for parents to stay engaged and know what their children are doing online.

When asked how parents can gather the courage to report their children after noticing signs of radicalisation, Pastor Lee said: “My answer is very simple. If you don’t do something now, what would happen in five, six years?”

ISD said people close to a suspected radicalised individual should alert the authorities early.

“In doing so, they would be saving the individual from getting involved in violent activities that could harm themselves and others,” the agency said.

After a report is made, ISD will conduct checks to establish the veracity of the information. The identity of the informer will be protected.

If the person is in the early stages of radicalisation or showing signs of vulnerability to violent extremist ideologies, they may be referred for counselling and may not need to be dealt with under the ISA.

No further action will be taken if investigations do not find the person to be radicalised.

NOT AN END POINT

ISD regularly reviews the progress of all detainees’ rehabilitation, taking into account assessments provided by various rehabilitation partners, including case officers, psychologists, religious counsellors and mentors.

Detainees would be released when they are assessed to no longer pose an imminent threat that warrants further detention, ISD said.

After being released from detention, the formerly radicalised youths are issued a restriction order (RO). Those under restriction orders must not change their residence or employment, nor travel overseas without approval.

They also cannot access the internet or social media, issue public statements, address public meetings, print, distribute or contribute to any publication, nor be a member of any group without approval.

“Their RO will be allowed to lapse when they are assessed to no longer pose a security threat,” ISD said.

Mr Salim Mohamed Nasir, an RRG mentor and tutor who worked with both Dylan and Farhan, said he usually reminds youths toward the end of detention that rehabilitation is not an endpoint, but a responsibility going forward.

“I emphasise that trust is rebuilt through consistent actions, not words, and that choices, especially regarding peers and habits, matter greatly. The second chance they receive must be protected through discipline and accountability,” he said.

Farhan made good progress in rehabilitation and was released on a restriction order in 2023.

Asked what advice he has for other youths who may be in the position he was in, he emphasised that they should not be easily manipulated emotionally by what is shown online.

“Before being misguided by online sources related to religion and conflicts around the world, stop and get advice from a religious teacher from RRG or other MUIS-accredited religious teachers to get the proper understanding about it,” he said.

Now in his mid-20s, he has completed his part-time diploma and is currently pursuing a career in the culinary industry.

“My current goal is to gain enough experience to be a full-fledged chef and hopefully have my own restaurant in the future.”

Dylan performed well in his national exams and was released on a restriction order under the ISA after three years of detention.

These days, his interactions with Muslims are much better than before, he said. The first friend he made in his tertiary institution was a Muslim, with whom he has remained friends to this day, he added.

He has come to realise that there was a difference between the way Muslims were being portrayed online by extremists, and the Muslims going about their day-to-day life around him, he said.

His realisation underscores the importance of advice echoed by rehabilitation partners – that youths must make an effort to socialise with people of different backgrounds.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/radicalised-youths-rehabilitation-isd-terrorism-israel-hamas-war-far-right-5972631

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks, after loud explosions were heard in Dubai and Bahrain’s Manama a day earlier.

Gulf nations reported on Sunday (Mar 8) missile and drone attacks, while Iran vowed to press on with its strikes against neighbouring countries as the regional war entered its second week.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks, after loud explosions were heard in Dubai and Bahrain’s Manama a day earlier, and Kuwait’s national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to production.

Qatar’s defence ministry said on Sunday that the country was targeted a day earlier by 10 ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles fired from Iran, but most of them were intercepted and caused no casualties.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said Sunday it had intercepted and destroyed 15 drones that entered the kingdom’s airspace, including six east of capital Riyadh.

Kuwait’s military also said Sunday that it had responded “to a wave of hostile drones that penetrated the country’s airspace”.

Fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport were targeted in a drone attack, the military added.

It called the drone attack “a direct targeting of vital infrastructure”.

A separate statement said “some civilian facilities sustained material damage as a result of falling fragments and debris from interception operations”.

The attacks came despite Iran’s president apologising to Gulf countries for earlier strikes. He had said they would no longer be targeted unless strikes were launched from their territory first.

But hours later, Iran’s judiciary chief said strikes would continue on sites in Gulf countries which were “at the disposal of the enemy”.

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a rare televised address that the Emirates were in “a period of war” and “will emerge stronger” from it.

Dubai authorities said Saturday that a Pakistani national had been killed by debris from an “aerial interception”.

DUBAI AIRPORT

Earlier on Saturday, Dubai closed its main airport – the world’s busiest for international traffic – after authorities said an unidentified object was intercepted nearby.

The airport later partially resumed operations.

A witness told AFP of a loud explosion in the area followed by a cloud of smoke, while footage authenticated by AFP recorded the sound of a drone followed by a loud explosion and plumes of smoke close to an airport concourse.

The government said there had been “a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception”, without directly mentioning the airport. It said there were no injuries.

The Flightradar24 tracking website earlier showed planes circling above the airport in an apparent holding pattern.

In a statement since deleted from X, Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, had announced it was suspending all flights to and from Dubai until further notice, but later said it had resumed operations.

The UAE, a US ally and home to American military installations, has been the most heavily targeted nation in the Gulf during the war.

The defence ministry said 221 ballistic missiles were detected since the war began on Feb 28, with the number of drones surpassing 1,300.

Iranian attacks have hit the Abu Dhabi airport, the upmarket Palm Jumeirah development and the Burj Al Arab luxury hotel over the past week, while drone debris caused a fire at the US consulate in Dubai on Tuesday.

SAUDI BASE

Elsewhere in the Gulf on Saturday, Bahrain said it has intercepted 92 missiles and 151 drones since the start of the “brutal Iranian aggression”.

AFP journalists heard an explosion Saturday night in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, as authorities said one person was injured after rocket shrapnel fell in a street.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/iran-war-gulf-strikes-attacks-dubai-qatar-doha-bahrain-uae-saudi-arabia-5979231

The protests in Bangladesh and Nepal, countries that are separated by the narrow Siliguri corridor, had the same goal – replacing the existing system.

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is heading towards a sweeping victory in Nepal’s first general elections since the violent Gen Z protests, shattering the dominance of established political parties.

The result is exactly the opposite of what happened in Bangladesh, where, despite a student-led revolution toppling the incumbent government, the principal opposition party formed the previous regime returned to power in the elections that followed. The newly formed student-led’ party, the National Citizen Party, failed to make an impact.

Similar Goals, Different Outcomes

The protests in Bangladesh and Nepal, countries that are separated by the narrow Siliguri corridor, had the same goal – replacing the existing system.

While the uprising in Bangladesh was set in motion by forces like the Jamaat-backed Chhatra Shibir, with a more politically stated goal of removing the incumbent from power, the one in Nepal was more organic, with a focus on overthrowing the system. This allowed leaders like Balen Shah, 35, to emerge as genuine alternatives to the existing political parties.

The students’ movement in Bangladesh, on the other hand, could not create a leader who was acceptable to the people of the country. The movement was more focused on removing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and could not offer an alternative to the people.

The Tarique Rahman Factor

With the toppling of the Hasina government in Bangladesh, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman emerged as the only credible alternative, even though he was a product of the existing political system. Having been in political exile and out of the country for 17 years, Tarique Rahman offered fresh ideas, a new approach and, more importantly, a clear vision of Bangladesh’s future.

Rahman’s “I have a plan” speech set the ball rolling for his party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to talk about what it intended to do for citizens.

This approach worked, making him appear to be a more pragmatic choice than the students’ groups who had joined forces with the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a fringe player in electoral politics. Rahman’s inclusive politics and outreach to minorities also played a role in his popularity.

Balen’s Popularity

Balendra Shah emerged as a frontrunner for the prime minister’s post after Gen Z protests rocked Nepal in September last year, triggered by a social media ban that was later rolled back.

Shah originally became famous as a rapper under the name “Balen”, and his music, which critiqued social ills and political corruption, resonated with the youth of the country. He went on to become the Mayor of Kathmandu and when he was asked during the protests whether he would take up the post of prime minister, he refused.

In contrast, student leaders in Bangladesh were embroiled in several controversies soon after the overthrow of the Hasina regime and some also took up positions in the interim government. To many people, they were seen as pursuing power rather than change.

The alliance of the students’ party, the NCP, with the Jamaat-e-Islami, known for its anti-minority stance, also alienated many. Balen Shah, on the other hand, was seen as running a campaign that embraced minorities, especially Madhesis, making him appear more inclusive.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nepal-elections-2026-gen-z-bangladesh-protests-tale-of-two-protests-how-balen-shah-trumped-in-nepal-but-bangladeshs-students-party-failed-11183414?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

US President Donald Trump has told the UK he does not need its aircraft carriers and accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of seeking to “join wars after we’ve already won”, as the US and Israel continue to launch strikes on Iran.

In a social media post, Trump said the UK was “giving serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, before saying the US does not “need them”. Downing Street has not responded.

One of the UK’s two aircraft carriers has been placed on advanced readiness, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed.

Trump’s comments came after US bomber jets were seen landing in the UK as the US started using British bases for “specific defensive operations”.

“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember.

“We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

Speaking on Air Force One in response to a question about the use of UK bases in the war, Trump referred to his post on Truth Social, saying: “We don’t need them”, appearing to reference the carriers.

He added: “It’s not the right time. It would have been nice to have them two weeks ago.”

The UK government has remained clear that it has no interest in joining the wider offensive campaign in the Middle East.

The crew of HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth have been told they must be ready to leave in five days.

This has raised speculation the carrier may be deployed to the to the Mediterranean to help defend British interests threatened during the conflict in the Middle East – but people inside Sir Keir’s government are playing down that idea.

The UK’s other aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is out of action for the foreseeable future.

The UK has already said it will deploy a Royal Navy warship after an RAF base in Akrotiri in Cyprus has been targeted by drones.

HMS Dragon – which has air defence capabilities – is being sent to the Mediterranean to bolster security around the base, but will not set sail until next week.

The back and forth between Trump and Sir Keir began after the UK initially refused to permit the US to use UK bases for its joint offensive with Israel against Iran.

Sir Keir later approved “defensive” US action against Iranian missile sites from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and said the UK government “does not believe in regime change from the skies”.

The UK prime minister said the decision was made after the situation changed last Sunday when Iran’s “outrageous” response became “a threat to our people, our interests and our allies”.

“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest,” he told MPs.

Trump told journalists in the Oval Office earlier this week he was “not happy with the UK” over the initial decision to refuse use of UK bases, which led to US planes “flying many extra hours” to carry out strikes last weekend. He also told reporters Sir Keir is “no Winston Churchill”.

Sir Keir has insisted the “special relationship” between the US and the UK had not been fractured while speaking to reporters on Thursday.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn3j04lydo

The Iranian ambassador in London has warned the UK to be “very careful” about becoming further involved in the war.

Seyed Ali Mousavi told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg his country would have a “right to self-defence” if the UK directly joined US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

He warned that Iran expected the British government, and others, “to be very delicate, very careful” in their actions.

The UK has given permission for the US to use British bases for what ministers describe as defensive strikes on Iranian facilities, but has not taken part in any direct attacks itself.

The ambassador said it was “good” that the UK was not “involved with this aggression”, adding he believed the British government had learnt lessons from the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Despite the Iranian president’s apology to its Gulf neighbours on Saturday, Mousavi made clear Iran would continue to attack US bases if strikes on Iran continued.

Days of strikes across the Middle East have caused enormous disruption and damage in many different countries.

Mousavi said that “if facilities or properties or bases are used against the Iranian nation”, they would be considered “legitimate targets”.

In the last few hours, Gulf countries including Qatar and the UAE have been hit by Iran, while the US and Israel have continued their attacks as the war enters a second week.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC to be broadcast on Sunday, Mousavi was asked if Iran would stop its attacks on military bases outside Israel in other parts of the Middle East.

He said there is “willingness from the Iranian side not to strike, not to attack our neighbours”.

But he maintained that Iran had the right to continue striking targets across the whole region where there were military bases.

Mousavi said Iran’s response “depends on the activities of the Americans and the Israeli regime”.

“If the aggression… continues there is no doubt we will defend ourselves,” he said. “And if they want to use these military bases – although we don’t want to do that – there is no doubt we will defend ourselves accordingly.”

It has been more than seven days since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran, which led Tehran to retaliate with its own attacks across the region.

Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq have all been hit, as has an RAF base in Cyprus.

In spite of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s apology, reports from the region suggest Iranian strikes have not stopped. Qatar and the UAE both said on Saturday afternoon they had intercepted missiles targeting them.

Pezeshkian’s message has not been universally welcomed inside Iran, with some hardliners criticising the tone as weak.

It is rare for the leadership of a country like Iran to apologise, let alone in public.

And it is rare for a representative of Iran to agree to be interviewed.

But in the wake of the president’s apology, Iran’s ambassador to the UK agreed to our request to speak to him, and even more unusually, invited us to speak to him in Iran’s embassy in London, a building that tells the story of the fraught and troubled history between Iran and the West.

The building, on the edge of London’s Hyde Park, is where five Iranian gunmen were killed after a dramatic siege that was brought to an end by SAS commandos in 1980.

Nineteen hostages were set free, but one died and two were injured in the crossfire.

The gunmen belonged to a dissident Iranian group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader.

Like his president in Tehran, the ambassador plainly wanted to make the case that Iran was only responding to aggression from Israel and the United States, and that it was not trying to put other citizens in the Middle East in danger, or to prolong the war unnecessarily.

But the way in which Iran has responded by attacking so many different countries across the region, in a way that Western officials see as indiscriminate lashing out, tells a different story.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6qp458zv1o

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s aim to free Iran, hoping that the two nations will return to being “true friends”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday there was a risk that Iran would initiate the attack, prompting the Israeli administration to pre-empt the strikes on Tehran. “And every day we strip it of a new layer of its strength”, Netanyahu said in a video message posted on ‘X’.

Addressing the Iranians, he emphasised Israel is not trying to divide Iran. “We are trying to free Iran”, he stated.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that Israel and Iran will be back to being “true friends”. “The moment of truth is approaching. Liberation from the yoke of tyranny will depend on you. If you stand up, the day will not be far off when Israel and Iran will return to being true friends”, Netanyahu said.

The remarks come as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran entered its second week on Sunday, with Jerusalem continuing targeting multiple sites in Tehran and other major cities.

Iran continues to retaliate by targeting facilities linked to the United States and Israel across the Gulf.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards said they had hit America’s Juffair base in Bahrain, adding that it had been used to target an Iranian desalination plant earlier on Saturday.

Meanwhile, air raid warnings sounded in Jerusalem and Qatar’s Doha, with attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/moment-of-truth-is-approaching-israels-netanyahu-in-direct-message-to-iranians-ws-l-9948354.html

A probe is underway to determine whether the carnage was caused by a remote-controlled IED planted at the fuel station or a suicide bomber

A devastating explosion tore through a petrol station in the Lower Wana area of South Waziristan in Pakistan on Saturday, claiming the lives of at least ten people and leaving several others critically injured, CNN-News18 has learnt. The blast, which occurred during a busy hour at the fuel station, has once again plunged the restive tribal district into a state of mourning and high alert.

Rescue teams and law enforcement agencies rushed to the scene immediately following the blast to shift the deceased and wounded to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Wana. Hospital sources have expressed concern that the death toll may rise, as several of the injured remain in a precarious condition.

Preliminary investigations are currently underway to determine the exact nature of the explosion, said sources. Security officials are scrutinising the site to ascertain whether the carnage was caused by a remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted at the station or a suicide bomber targeting the facility. While no group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack as of Saturday evening, the region has seen a sharp uptick in militant activity over the past month.

The incident comes at a time of heightened regional tension and a deteriorating security situation along the Durand Line. Over the last fortnight, South Waziristan and neighbouring North Waziristan have been the site of frequent skirmishes and targeted attacks. This latest tragedy follows a suicide bombing just a day prior in North Waziristan, which targeted a security check post, further straining the capacity of local law enforcement.

The blast has also sparked panic among the local population, who have been grappling with fuel shortages and economic instability caused by the broader regional conflict between Iran and Israel. The destruction of a key petrol pump in Wana not only represents a loss of life but also a direct blow to the already fragile supply chain in the tribal belt.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/deadly-blast-rocks-south-waziristan-fuel-station-in-pakistan-10-killed-many-injured-exclusive-details-9948092.html

Taiwanese legislator Chia-Pin Chung said India plays a crucial role in regional stability and expressed Taiwan’s interest in strengthening cooperation with countries in the region. He also reiterated Taiwan’s stance on maintaining sovereignty while seeking peaceful relations with China.

Taiwanese legislator Chia-Pin Chung underlined the importance of India in regional stability and said that Taiwan hopes to work together with such countries for the prosperity of the region.

He also said that Taiwan looks forward to having peaceful relations with China and emphasised its sovereignty.

Taiwan highlights India’s role in regional stability

Speaking to ANI, Chia-Pin Chung said, “India is a strong and powerful country, and it is an important player for regional stability. Taiwan hopes to work with countries in the region for the stability and prosperity of the region.”

“Taiwan is like India; we always wish to have peaceful relations with China. However, China has unlawful territorial ambitions. Taiwan does not stand with China on its claim that Taiwan is part of China,” Chung said.

Taiwan-China dispute rooted in history

China’s claim over Taiwan is a complex issue rooted in historical, political, and legal arguments. Beijing asserts that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, a viewpoint embedded in national policy and upheld by domestic laws and international statements.

Taiwan, however, maintains a distinct identity, functioning independently with its own government, military, and economy. Taiwan’s status remains a significant point of international debate, testing the principles of sovereignty, self-determination, and non-interference in international law, as per the United Service Institution of India.

Historical background of the territorial claim

China’s claim to Taiwan originates from the Qing Dynasty’s annexation of the island in 1683 after defeating Ming loyalist Koxinga. However, Taiwan remained a peripheral region under limited Qing control.

The key shift came in 1895, when the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War, marking Taiwan as a Japanese colony for 50 years. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, Taiwan was returned to Chinese control, but the sovereignty transfer was not formalised.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/india-taiwan-relations-india-an-important-player-for-regional-stability-says-taiwanese-legislator-chia-pin-chung-video

BRAVE Iranian rebels have broken through the regime’s internet blackout to tell The Sun: “We are ready to finally take our country back”.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s grisly downfall that saw him wind up dead in a pile of rubble has left the rogue nation’s repressed public wanting more.

One defiant Iranian told me: “The endgame feels real in a way it hasn’t before.”

Donald Trump hailed the chief mullah’s pathetic demise after his compound was blitzed as “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country”.

In a rallying cry to Iran’s population, the US president urged them to seize the opportunity to put the final nail in the nation’s bloodthirsty regime.

“Make Iran Great Again (MIGA!),” Trump declared yesterday – playing on his famed MAGA slogan.

Since pulling the trigger on Operation Epic Fury one week ago, Trump has continued to blitz Iran alongside Israel.

He has doubled down on a warning to the Islamic regime’s top brass to surrender – or face certain death.

Trump has vowed he will not stop until they are obliterated, with “uninterrupted” strikes targeting top clerics and nuclear sites.

Courageous Iranians – whose identities we have concealed to protect them – say they are waiting for their moment to finally topple the regime as Khamenei’s inner circle desperately tries to cling to power.

Internet blackouts have made it extremely difficult to communicate but, with limited VPN connection, they have managed to share accounts.

During January’s deadly protests, when ruthless Khamenei ordered his revolutionary guards to show no mercy, critics told me they would rather die than see his regime survive.

But now, almost two months on, the Supreme Leader is dead, and protesters are more certain than ever they could be on the brink of freedom.

One 27-year-old rebel living in Tehran told The Sun: “Many of us believed it was possible before, but those uprisings were never meant to be the final chapter by themselves.

“The regime survived by hiding behind proxies, money networks, and foreign lobbying.

“Now that mask is cracking and their hand is exposed, the endgame feels real in a way it hasn’t before.

“It’s a strange mix of relief and iron focus. People are glad to see operations striking terrorists – but the deeper feeling is impatience and readiness.

“Everyone is waiting for the moment it becomes our turn to reclaim Iran, and people talk about it out loud now. No more whispers.”

Khamenei, 86, was wiped out last Saturday after his compound in the capital was blitzed by Israeli forces after months of planning.

Iran’s chief mullah since 1989, was killed alongside his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

In a historic message, Trump said: “This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans.”

Dozens of the Islamic state’s senior henchmen have since been picked off – and it remains unclear whether the Ayatollah’s potential successors, including his son Mojtaba, are still alive.

Trump joined Israel in bombing Iran in the so-called 12-day war last June – but in the months since has warned Tehran to cut a deal with Washington over its nuclear empire, or face his wrath.

After talks in recent weeks failed to reach a breakthrough, the president’s patience wore thin and he ordered his military to begin an unprecedented blitz.

One insider in the capital said: “It’s about time the world treated the regime like what it is.

“I’m thankful President Trump kept his promise to the Iranian people and acted against the terrorist Islamic regime occupying Iran.

“Whatever happens next, history will remember who chose action instead of speeches.”

US and Israeli forces are working in tandem to unleash strikes on government, military and nuclear facilities.

With a lack of internet making it near impossible to communicate, those with family in Iran have feared for their safety not only because of blitzes, but because of the merciless nature of the vengeful IRGC.

A British-Iranian citizen living in the UK told The Sun on Thursday: “I have not been able to speak with my family since Saturday [Feb 28] morning because of the near-total internet blackout.

“Like many in the Iranian diaspora, I am waiting anxiously for even a fragment of news.

“When communication was still possible, relatives and friends described the current moment as a potential turning point. Many welcomed it.”

By yesterday, one man living in Mazandaran province – two hours outside of Tehran – reassured The Sun that “everything is fine”.

The source added: “We are all safe and well, and the city is calm and secure.

“Their strikes on targets are extremely precise and calculated, and unlike the previous war, civilian casualties are very, very low.

“There’s no sign of panic or the chaos you normally associate with war.

“It almost feels as if they want everything to remain intact, as though they intend to take over the country in a clean and orderly condition.”

When clashes between IRGC enforcers and protesters broke out in January, thousands of Iranians were brutally slaughtered as Khamenei frantically tried to crush dissent

Up to 40,000 were killed, human rights groups say – while witnesses told The Sun how they saw children gunned down, bodies burnt with acid, and protester’s limbs broken.

But with the regime’s power crumbling as the hours pass and commanders are killed, the IRGC’s reign of terror on the streets is diminishing.

One insider in Tehran said: “They [the IRGC] try [to stop people celebrating].

“They threaten. They intimidate. But they can’t seal a nation’s pulse back into silence.

“What’s changed is that fear is no longer controlling the room the way it used to.”

Before Khamenei’s barbaric 36-year rule, his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini served as Iran’s first supreme leader after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In almost half a century of iron-fist ruling, Iranians have suffered economic hardship, repeated crackdowns – and untold bloodshed, including relentless executions of anyone who dared speak out against the regime.

Describing themselves as “walking shadows”, they live in fear – and now see a flicker of hope to finally be free from the shackles of the Islamic state.

Chants of “marg bar dictator” – which translates to “death to the dictator” – are ringing out on the streets, insiders say, as rebels now feel empowered to push for change.

It comes as The Sun this week told how Iran’s terror chiefs and rival opposition figures vying for control in the wake of Khamenei’s death.

His assassination has thrown the Islamic Republic’s future into turmoil – exposing the first legitimate opening to pivot away from repressive rule in decades.

Khamenei’s second-eldest son Mojtaba, who effectively served as a “mini-Supreme leader” within his father’s office, is tipped to be his most likely heir.

Despite being a behind-the-scenes figures, Mojtaba, 56, has long been an influential actor in Iran’s ruling mechanism – and has close ties with the IRGC.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a senior cleric and long-time insider of Iran’s religious and political hierarchy, is another strong contender.

Khamenei’s remaining henchmen have this week been plotting who will become the third supreme leader – much to Trump’s fury.

He has vowed to handpick the regime’s new ruler, and branded Mojtaba at the same time.

But waiting in the wings to form new governments are rival opposition figures – Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi.

Paralleled in their visions for Iran, Rajavi and Pahlavi – the son of ousted final Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – are both trying to drum up support.

The Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution in 1979 – with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ruling until his death a decade later before Khamenei took the reins.

The self-styled crown prince, 65, told The Sun last year how he wants to make Iran a democratic, secular country – presenting himself as an option to “lead my compatriots down this road of peace”.

After initial strikes last weekend, Pahlavi – whose family was forced to leave Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 – declared: “We are very close to final victory.

“I hope to be with you as soon as possible so that together we many reclaim Iran and rebuild it.”

Opinion appears to be divided among Iranians on which direction they want to see the country go – should the regime collapse.

But one critic living in the war-torn nation said: “We want the man whose name the nation has chanted in the streets, the man whose call was answered from province to province, the name some shouted as their last words.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16051095/iran-rebels-ayatollah-regime-trump-blitz/

An Indian travel vlogger asserts that China is more affordable than India, citing lower costs for hotels, transportation, and food.

A travel blogging-couple has compared India and China in terms of affordability, sparking a heated discussion in the process. Swati and Prateek quit their jobs last year to travel the world. After exploring India in 2025, the couple is now spending their savings on international travel in 2026, with China being their starting point.

In their latest Instagram post, Swati compared prices in China and India. She said that while China is generally considered to be an expensive country, that is not what she experienced.

“Every myth broke”

In her clip, the Indian travel vlogger listed three ways that “China made her realise India is expensive”.

The first was the cost of hotels. According to Swati, she and Prateek paid just ₹1,800 for a luxury hotel room — which is significantly lower than what one would pay in most Indian luxury hotels. Next, a 30-minute BMW ride cost them just ₹600.

Last was the cost of food in China. Swati revealed that a plate of authentic Chinese noodles can be bought for just ₹170, although she did not specify whether the food was bought at a street stall or a restaurant.

“‘China is expensive’ – heard this a hundred times before booking the ticket. Every myth broke the moment we landed,” the Indian travel vlogger said in her Instagram post.

After listing the ways in which China is more affordable than India, she added: “China isn’t expensive. China is embarrassingly affordable.”

What Instagram users had to say

One person said that India is “a third world economy with first world prices.”

“Because China’s economy is run down model. Companies are fighting with each other on prize basis to provide the best services at prices lower than the competition. It keeps the prices down and is subsidised by investor’s money. That is not the case with India,” another opined.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/china-made-me-realise-india-is-expensive-says-tourist-after-600-bmw-ride-101772933848048.html

Dozens of U.S. and other investors ranging from hedge fund managers to energy investors plan to travel to Venezuela in the coming weeks with hopes of meeting the country’s top politicians and business leaders and scouting out investment opportunities, according to event ​organizers and participants.
Three investor trips are being organized by separate advisory groups, with New Jersey-based Trans-National Research and Orinoco Research, a Caracas-based boutique research advisory firm adding to similar efforts by Signum Global Advisors, ‌according to an investor source and the firms’ founders.

The trips by Trans-National and Orinoco have not previously been reported while outlines of the Signum trip have been public.
Investor interest in Venezuela, which is home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves and owes more than $100 billion in debt that needs restructuring, has ramped up dramatically since the U.S. capture of former President Nicolas Maduro in January. Washington and Caracas agreeing on Thursday to re-establish diplomatic ties is another major step towards engagement with what was once among Latin America’s most prosperous economies.
“It’s a coiled ​spring of opportunity,” said Jesse Cole, president of Sky Drop Capital, who plans to travel to Venezuela on one of the upcoming investment trips and sees the country as exciting for energy, finance and technology investments.

Cole, based in Miami, set ​up a manufacturing facility in the country in 1998 but left in 2011 after a years-long push by the government of former President Hugo Chavez to expropriate key ⁠industries resulted in foreign investors fleeing.
Now he sees conditions rapidly improving and says he is getting interest from offices managing the wealth of high net-worth families as well as high net-worth individuals and private equity groups looking to allocate $25 to $100 million apiece to investment ​there.
“The Venezuela I left, I don’t think is the Venezuela I’m returning to,” said Cole.

INVESTOR TRIPS ORGANIZED

One trip slated for March 16-17 is being organized by New Jersey-based Trans-National Research, according to one source familiar with the situation.
Trans-National specializes ​in helping investors forge relationships in “frontier” markets, said Marc Zeepvat, the firm’s president and head of research, who confirmed the trip but declined to confirm the precise date or agenda.

“The obvious focus for them (the investors) is to get a handle on both macroeconomic and political stability,” Zeepvat said.
Orinoco Research is organizing another trip in April, said its founder Elias Ferrer.
Senior-level Venezuelan officials will attend private meetings being organized for the investors, said Ferrer, and participants will predominantly be bondholders looking to gather information and share ideas for the country’s restructuring, while oil and ​real estate investors have also signed up.
Ferrer said most people signing up for the two-day event, which has a price tag of $7,000 per person, are Americans whom he will help to get visas. The event is followed with a beach trip to ​the nearby Los Roques archipelago, famous for its crystal-clear water, white sand and rustic posadas.
In addition, Signum is organizing a two-day conference from March 22-24 in Venezuela which has attracted 55 participants.

“Venezuela has several big advantages, including its energy reserves and U.S. backing,” said ‌Charles Myers, chairman ⁠and founder of Signum.
About half of those traveling with Signum are asset managers and hedge funds, Myers said, many of which own or have recently bought debt issued by Venezuela’s government or its state oil giant PDVSA, both of which have been in default since 2017.

HIGH LEVEL MEETINGS ON THE AGENDA

Draft agendas for the meetings are crammed with high level movers and shakers in Venezuela’s interim government, according to the investor source who received details of the trips and shared them with Reuters.
Delcy Rodriguez, current acting president and formerly Maduro’s deputy, appears on one draft agenda, the investor source said.
PDVSA CEO Hector Obragon is also listed for two events. Trans-National is advertising meetings with Finance Minister Anabel Pereira and central bank policymaker Laura ​Guerra while Orinoco’s agenda includes Mining Minister Hector Silva ​and stock exchange CEO Jose Grasso, that source said.
Orinoco’s ⁠Ferrer declined to comment on the agenda.
Neither the Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press queries for the government, PDVSA or the central bank responded to requests for comment. The Caracas stock exchange also did not respond.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that critical minerals, mining, and oil and gas companies are moving at “Trump speed” to invest in ​newfound Venezuelan markets.
“Secretary Burgum met with Delcy Rodriguez and investors from a wide range of industries in Venezuela this week, marking rapid progress and highlighting the great interest ​to get capital flowing into ⁠the country again,” Rogers said, referring to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who wrapped up a Venezuela trip on Thursday.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/investors-headed-post-maduro-venezuela-scout-out-opportunities-2026-03-07/

A divided U.S. appeals court has refused to let the Trump administration revoke legal protections that allow more than 350,000 Haitians to ​live and work in the U.S., and avoid being returned to their gang-violence-stricken country.
A ‌2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late on Friday rejected, the administration’s bid to pause a February 2 ruling that blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from ending ​Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status.

TPS is a humanitarian program that shields eligible migrants from deportation ​and allows them to work.
Under outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the department ⁠has moved to end TPS for a dozen countries as part of President Donald Trump’s ​immigration crackdown, arguing the program was never intended to serve as a “de facto amnesty.”
The administration had ​asked the D.C. Circuit to stay U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’ February order while it appeals. Her decision came in a class-action lawsuit brought by Haitians seeking to prevent DHS from exposing them to deportation.
Reyes found that ​Noem’s November move to end the Haitians’ legal protections likely violated TPS termination procedures and ​the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The administration on appeal noted that the ‌U.S. Supreme ⁠Court had twice allowed it to end TPS for Venezuelans.
But U.S. Circuit Judges Florence Pan and Brad Garcia, both appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, distinguished the cases and said Haitians sent home would “be vulnerable to violence amid a ‘collapsing rule of law’ and lack access to life-sustaining medical ​care.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Justin ​Walker, a Trump appointee, ⁠dissented, saying the case and the earlier Supreme Court litigation involving Venezuelans were “the legal equivalent of fraternal, if not identical, twins.”
A DHS spokesperson ​said in a statement that the administration would take the case to ​the U.S. ⁠Supreme Court.
“Temporary means temporary, and the final word will not be from activist judges legislating from the bench,” the spokesperson said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-cannot-end-protections-350000-haitians-us-appeals-court-rules-2026-03-07/

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is not interested in negotiating with Iran and raised the possibility that the Iran war would only end once that country no ​longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the air campaign could make negotiations a moot point if all potential leaders of Iran ‌are killed and the Iranian military is destroyed.

“At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say ‘We surrender,'” Trump said.
Israel and Iran traded numerous attacks on Saturday as the Middle East war entered a second week. Iran’s president apologised to neighbouring states to cool anger across the Gulf but stirred criticism from hardliners at home.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, urging them not to join U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
He dismissed Trump’s demand for the Islamic Republic’s unconditional surrender as “a dream”, but said its temporary leadership council had ​agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.

Trump nonetheless cast Iran’s apology as a surrender and warned the U.S. could widen its attacks.
Amid possible divisions within Iran’s leadership over Pezeshkian’s remarks, Israeli Prime ​Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a televised address, said any Iranian Revolutionary Guards who lay down their arms would be unharmed.
Ali Ardashir Larijani, Iran’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, ⁠said on state television there was no rift among Iranian officials over its handling of the war.
Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that while it favours a diplomatic settlement, continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to ​respond in kind, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

IRAN SAYS IT TARGETED U.S. BASES

Pezeshkian’s comments caused a political stir in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate Iran’s military would respond firmly to attacks from U.S. bases in the region.

Hours later, the ​president repeated his statement on social media but left out the apology from his speech that had angered hardliners, including the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Hamid Rasai, a hardline cleric and lawmaker, wrote on X: “Mr Pezeshkian, your stance was unprofessional, weak and unacceptable.”
The judiciary chief, Mohseni-Ejei, a hardline member of the three-man council temporarily holding the powers of supreme leader, said the territory of some regional countries was being used for attacks against Iran, and retaliatory strikes would continue.
Hours after Pezeshkian’s announcement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their drones struck a U.S. air combat centre at Al Dhafra Air ​Base near Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Reuters could not independently verify that report.
Late into the night, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted an Israeli refinery, according to state media. Air raid sirens sounded in the Haifa ​area, but there were no reports of destruction. The Kuwaiti army said on Saturday that fuel storage tanks belonging to Kuwait International Airport were targeted in a drone attack.

There were reports of rockets targeting the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, security sources and witnesses said. Iraqi Prime ‌Minister Mohammed Shia ⁠al-Sudani ordered his security forces to pursue those responsible, according to a statement.
In Iran, local news agencies, citing an Iranian Oil Ministry source, said its fuel depots were hit by strikes in three areas, including Karaj, west of Tehran.
The Revolutionary Guards also targeted U.S. forces at a base in Bahrain, Iranian state media said. Blasts were also heard in Doha, a Reuters witness said.
Tehran has responded to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran by hitting Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting U.S. military installations. Israel has launched fresh attacks in Lebanon after the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah fired across the border.
The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have all reported drone or missile attacks over the past week.

ISRAEL WARNS LEBANON TO REIN IN HEZBOLLAH

With the conflict spreading, Israel warned ​Lebanon of a “very heavy price” if it did not rein ​in Hezbollah, as it pounded the group’s strongholds with ⁠airstrikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.
On Saturday morning, more buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut had been reduced to mounds of smoking rubble, dust and tangled wires, Reuters video showed.
The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Lebanon since Monday rose to 294, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded ​thousands, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani. Huge explosions were heard in parts of Tehran, state media reported, while Israel said it had struck Iranian missile sites and ​command centres.
Iranian attacks have killed 10 ⁠people in Israel.
Larijani said there were reports that American soldiers have been captured, but U.S. Central Command said no U.S. service members have been taken prisoner.
At least six U.S. service members have been killed. Their remains arrived on Saturday at an Air Force base in Delaware.
Iran’s apparent strategy of maximum chaos has driven up the costs of the conflict by raising energy prices and hurting global business and logistics links.
Kuwait’s national oil company began cutting output on Saturday, adding to earlier oil and gas cuts from Iraq and Qatar.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-war-enters-second-week-trump-demands-unconditional-surrender-2026-03-07/

Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that while it favours a diplomatic settlement to Iran’s conflict with the United States, continued attacks on the kingdom and ​its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The message was conveyed before a speech on ‌Saturday in which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised to neighbouring Gulf states for Tehran’s actions — an apparent attempt to defuse regional anger over Iranian strikes that hit civilian targets.

Two days earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and set out Riyadh’s position with clarity, the sources said.
Saudi Arabia is open to any form of mediation aimed at de‑escalation and a negotiated settlement, the sources quoted ​the minister as saying, underlining that neither Riyadh nor other Gulf states had let the U.S. use their airspace or territory to launch airstrikes on Iran.
But Prince ​Faisal was also quoted by the sources as saying that if Iranian attacks persisted against Saudi territory or energy infrastructure, Saudi Arabia would ⁠be forced to permit U.S. forces to use their bases there for military operations. Riyadh would retaliate if attacks on the kingdom’s critical energy facilities continued, he said.

The sources said ​the kingdom had remained in regular contact with Tehran through its ambassador since the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran began on February 28 following the collapse of talks on ​Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

DRONE AND MISSILE ATTACKS ON GULF STATES

The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have all come under heavy drone and missile fire from Iran over the past week.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on the first day of the war. Tehran responded by hitting Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting U.S. military installations, ​and Israel has attacked Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group.
Araqchi said in an interview on Saturday that he remained in constant contact with his Saudi counterpart and other Saudi officials, adding ​that Riyadh had assured Tehran it was fully committed to not allowing its territory, waters or airspace to be used for attacks against Iran.

Pezeshkian said Iran’s temporary leadership council had approved suspending attacks on ‌nearby countries – unless ⁠an attack on Iran came from those nations.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.
To what extent Pezeshkian’s remarks signal a change is unclear. There were further reports of strikes directed at Gulf states on Saturday.
Also, in a sign of possible divisions within Iran’s leadership, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters – the unified combatant command of the Iranian armed forces – said in a statement afterwards that U.S. and Israeli bases and interests across the region would remain targets.
The command said Iran’s armed forces respected the sovereignty and interests of ​neighbouring states and had not taken action against ​them so far. But it said U.S. ⁠and Israeli military bases and assets on land, at sea and in the air across the region would be treated as primary targets and face “powerful and heavy” strikes by Iran’s forces.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Iran had “apologized and surrendered to its Middle ​East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. ​and Israeli attack.”
Two Iranian ⁠sources confirmed that a call had taken place in which Riyadh warned Tehran to halt attacks on Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states. Iran, they said, reiterated its position that the strikes were not aimed at Gulf countries themselves but at U.S. interests and military bases hosted on their territory.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-has-told-iran-not-attack-it-warns-possible-retaliation-sources-say-2026-03-07/

Israel warned Lebanon of a “disastrous” fallout if it did not rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah ​on Saturday, as it pounded the group’s strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.
Lebanon was dragged into the wider ‌Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah fired at Israel, which responded with a new military campaign that has killed nearly 300 people and forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.

In the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, buildings lay in mounds of smoking rubble and twisted metal, Reuters footage showed.
Further east, in the town of Nabi Chit, a heavy Israeli bombardment after a rare Israeli airborne raid had punched craters into ​the ground, burying cars in mountains of dirt and launching one vehicle onto the roof of a two-storey building.
In Israel, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets and drones, sent ​people fleeing to their shelters.

RARE AIRBORNE RAID KILLS DOZENS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a televised statement, said that it was up to the ⁠Lebanese government to enforce the 2024 agreement to disarm Hezbollah.

“Your responsibility is to disarm Hezbollah. If you do not do this, Hezbollah’s aggression will result in disastrous repercussions for Lebanon. It is time ​for you to take your destiny in to your own hands. We will do all that is necessary to defend our communities and citizens,” Netanyahu said.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a separate ​statement that the Lebanese government and all of Lebanon would “pay a heavy price” if Hezbollah is not disarmed. Israel had no territorial claims against Lebanon but would not allow cross-border fire, Katz said.
Lebanon’s government instructed the army last year to establish a state monopoly on arms. Troops had confiscated Hezbollah’s weapons in parts of the south but senior Lebanese officials and security sources said pursuing the plan could cause internal tensions as the group had ​refused to give up its arsenals in full.

An Israeli military official told Reuters Israeli military operations were now acting “to remove the threat from Lebanon.”
Overnight, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s ​eastern Bekaa Valley.
Israel’s military said the troops staged the operation to seek the remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli airforce navigator missing in Lebanon since 1986 but no findings related to him were recovered.

Hezbollah said overnight ‌it had ⁠fired on Israeli troops dropped near Nabi Chit by four helicopters, and that the troops had withdrawn. The Israeli military said none of its forces were injured.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 41 people had been killed in the last 24 hours in Israeli attacks in the Nabi Chit area. The Lebanese army said three of its personnel were among the dead.
Israeli strikes have killed 294 people and wounded more than 1,000 across Lebanon since Monday, the health ministry there said.

IRANIAN DIPLOMATS LEAVE BEIRUT

Shawki al-Masri, who lives in a town adjacent to Nabi Chit, described the overnight bombing in the area as “a night ​of hell”.
“We heard the helicopters over our house ​all night – they were so low we ⁠thought they would land on us,” he told Reuters.
Orders to evacuate have displaced around 300,000 people, only a third of whom are now living in government shelters. A senior United Nations official described the displacement as “unprecedented” in comments to Reuters on Friday.
Israel’s military has issued orders for people living in a ​swathe of southern Lebanon, several towns in the east and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs to leave their homes. This amounts to ​around 8% of Lebanese territory.
Israel’s ⁠military this week warned representatives of the Iranian government “still in Lebanon to leave immediately before they are targeted.”
Over 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, left Lebanon on Saturday, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters, adding that 20 left the previous day.
The Iranian embassy in Lebanon citing safety concerns, said that the families of the Iranian embassy staff, along with teachers and students of the Iranian school and ⁠a group ​of Iranians living in Lebanon, has left Beirut temporarily.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanon-says-least-16-dead-israeli-strikes-eastern-town-2026-03-07/

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and killing ‌at least 10 people, including two children, in the northeast city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia targeted the energy sector and railway infrastructure across the country.

“There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Zelenskiy said on the ​Telegram app.

“Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support should continue,” ​Zelenskiy said, urging partners to continue air defence and weapons supplies.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov and regional ⁠prosecutors put the death toll in the city at 11, one more than Zelenskiy’s estimate.
Zelenskiy, speaking later in his nightly ​video address, described the strike as “horrific.” He said rescue crews, including specialists from other regions, were still clearing rubble and searching ​for bodies underneath.
Kharkiv regional prosecutors reported that two people had been killed in a separate drone strike on Saturday near a post office in a village near the Russian border.

Ukrainian air defence units shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles, the air force said. But nine missiles ​and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites, it said.

BALLISTIC MISSILE SLAMS INTO RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The city of Kharkiv was targeted by Russian ​drones and missiles, and 11 people, including two children, were killed after a Russian ballistic missile slammed into a five-storey residential building, Terekhov ‌said.
“When ⁠we arrived here 20 minutes after the explosion, I thought I was going to have a stroke. I couldn’t string two words together, and my legs were buckling,” Hanna, a resident of the destroyed building, told Reuters.
“It’s good that I wasn’t there with my child and that my father was with me. It was ordinary people who lived there. What were they targeting?”
Russia’s ​Defence Ministry said its forces ​carried out massive overnight strikes ⁠on Ukrainian military-industrial complexes, military airfields and energy facilities, the Interfax news agency reported.

In Kharkiv, 15 people were also wounded, and 19 residential buildings were damaged by the Russian attacks, Kharkiv ​Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Commercial and administrative buildings, electricity distribution lines, and cars were also ​hit, he said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-strike-kills-seven-including-two-children-ukraines-kharkiv-governor-says-2026-03-07/

Canada’s minister for US-Canada trade, Dominic LeBlanc, is in Washington on Friday for meetings with Trump administration officials — the first high-level talks between the two countries since negotiations broke down late last year.

LeBlanc will be meeting with US trade representative Jamieson Greer to discuss the US-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement, also known as the USMCA, which is under a mandatory review this year, his office said.

Formal trade talks between Canada and the US were suspended in October by President Donald Trump over an anti-tariff advert run by the province of Ontario.

Trump has since mulled scrapping the USMCA, or carving out separate deals with Canada and Mexico.

Canada and Mexico, however, have both said that they would like the long-standing North American free trade agreement to remain in place.

“This government is very worried about the future of the bilateral relationship with the United States, the consequences of a zombie CUSMA or the shredding of CUSMA,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney this week, using the Canadian term for the USMCA.

Carney added that the free trade agreement “effectively has been broken in the short term by US actions”.

The USMCA has shielded the majority of Canada’s trade from broad tariffs Trump has imposed on Canada, including a new worldwide 10% duty brought in under a never-used law known as Section 122.

That was imposed after the US Supreme Court struck down duties, including some on Canada, brought in by Trump under presidential emergency powers.

Still, separate – and painful – sector-specific tariffs he has imposed on Canadian steel, aluminium and automobiles remain in place. Before talks broke down last autumn, Ottawa was working to secure some relief on that front.

In recent weeks, both Canadian and US officials have said that some baseline tariffs will likely remain no matter the outcome of the USMCA review.

Meanwhile, US and Mexican negotiators will hold bilateral discussions over the joint review starting later this March, according to Greer’s office.

LeBlanc’s meeting with Greer on Friday comes as Carney wraps up a tour of the Indo-Pacific, where he met his counterparts in India, Australia and Japan to discuss trade and investment in Canada.

On his last stop in Tokyo, Carney signed a new strategic partnership with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, which would deepen ties between the two on defence, energy and technology.

Japan, however, has said that its continued support for Canada’s auto sector hinges on successful talks on the future of the USMCA, which has provided Japanese car makers with preferential access to the US market.

Around 70% of cars manufactured in Canada are made by Japanese companies, according to figures provided by Carney’s office.

“All those cars made in Canada, of course sold in Canada, but at the same time exported to the US market,” said Japan’s ambassador to Canada Kanji Yamanouchi, in an interview with CTV News.

The automotive industry has been a sticking issue for US officials, who have said in the past that they want car manufacturing to shift completely to the US.

Under the USMCA, cars are manufactured in all three North American countries, and the deeply linked supply chain sees a single vehicle crossing the US, Mexico and Canada borders multiple times before it is finished and sold.

US tariffs on Canada’s auto sector, which is concentrated in Ontario, have already led to thousands of job losses.

Carney was elected last year on a platform that included reducing Canada’s economic reliance on the US, which he no longer views as a reliable trade partner.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg50j7y2l3o

Azerbaijan has said it is pulling its diplomatic staff out of Iran after it accused Iran of launching four drones across the border into the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan.

The airport terminal was hit, a drone exploded near a school, injuring civilians, and another drone was shot down, as the war in the Middle East spilled over Iran’s northern border.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev condemned the “act of terror”, demanding an explanation and apology from Tehran.

On Friday he went further, announcing the withdrawal of staff from Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in Tabriz “for their own safety”, and state media said the military had been placed on maximum combat readiness.

Aliyev also touched on Iran’s ethnic Azerbaijani population on Thursday – a sensitive subject for Tehran.

Iran denies any role in Thursday’s strikes and has suggested the attack may have been an Israeli false‑flag operation.

Azerbaijan, a small but strategically important Caspian country bordering Russia, Iran, Armenia and Georgia, is now being pulled closer to the heart of a much bigger confrontation.

Nakhchivan is an isolated Azerbaijani territory bordering Iran, Turkey and Armenia, making it particularly exposed during times of conflict.

The drones triggered Aliyev’s strongest public attack on Tehran since he took office.

He said the Iranian forces behind the strike were “ugly, cowardly and disgusting” – an unusually blunt personal insult for a head of state.

But his anger went beyond words, saying that “independent Azerbaijan is a place of hope for Azerbaijanis living in Iran”.

Baku has long avoided this line because of how sensitive it is for Tehran.

Iran is home to an estimated 20-25 million ethnic Azeris, who make up its largest minority group and are concentrated in the north-west along the Azerbaijan border.

The Islamic Republic has consistently regarded their identity and political affiliations as issues of utmost sensitivity. Tehran views any notion of Azerbaijani identity extending beyond its borders as a potential challenge to internal unity.

Aliyev has rarely spoken about Iranian Azeris in such explicitly aspirational terms and doing so now appears to be a calculated move.

Iran is under intense pressure not just from the war but from internal unrest and political uncertainty and Aliyev’s message comes across as a warning to Tehran: any attempt to pressure Azerbaijan militarily or diplomatically could result in a response from Baku, including one that affects Iran’s internal stability.

Iranian Azerbaijanis have long complained that they are denied basic cultural rights, including education in their own language.

Several Azerbaijani activists, journalists and language campaigners are currently imprisoned in Iran, facing charges ranging from “propaganda against the regime” to “conspiracy against national security”.

They are also a politically significant community. This week the exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has been urging Iranian Azerbaijanis, among other ethnic minorities, to rise up against the regime.

Iran’s current President, Masoud Pezeshkian, is himself an ethnic Azerbaijani and the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who was killed in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes on Saturday – was also claimed to have Azerbaijani roots.

Some of Iran’s shahs across the centuries were ethnic Azerbaijanis as well.

One of its most influential rulers, Shah Ismail Khatai, even used Azerbaijani as the first language of his palace in the 16th Century – a reminder of how deeply Azerbaijani culture once shaped the Iranian state.

But none of these facts have helped Azerbaijanis in Iran to have lessons taught in their own language.

Despite their shared Shia Muslim identity, Iran and Azerbaijan have grown apart politically, and tensions worsened after Azerbaijan’s military victories in the 2020 and 2023 Karabakh wars, which were helped by Turkish and Israeli-made weapons.

Iran views Baku’s close defence partnership with Israel as a serious threat.

Iranian officials and media have repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of helping Israeli intelligence operate along Iran’s northern frontier – claims Azerbaijan denies.

Azerbaijan’s ties with Israel extend beyond security. Israel relies heavily on Azerbaijani oil, and the two countries maintain close political and intelligence co-operation.

For Tehran, this collaboration is at the centre of its suspicion.

Azerbaijan, for its part, has long resented Iran’s political and military support for neighbouring Armenia, seeing it as direct interference in a conflict central to its own security.

That history of mistrust is an important backdrop to Thursday’s escalation, shaping how Baku interprets every move coming from Tehran.

Iran opposes the establishment of a land connection between Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave. Tehran has consistently objected to Armenia potentially allowing Azerbaijan a land corridor to the territory.

Azerbaijan is a major energy supplier, and its crude oil reaches global markets through a 1,768km (1,100-mile) pipeline that goes via Baku on the Caspian Sea through Georgia to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

That pipeline carries more than a million barrels of oil a day and provides Europe with a vital supply route that bypasses both Russian and Iranian territory.

It also supplies Israel with a significant proportion of its oil.

As a result, the pipeline is viewed as a significant potential target for Iran, and any threat of disruption could raise security fears and jolt energy markets.

Both Iran and Azerbaijan deny seeking escalation.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e9qpy90g3o

Oil prices have risen to their highest level in more than two years, after Qatar’s energy minister warned he expects all oil and gas exporters in the Gulf to stop production within days.

Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times the conflict in the Middle East – a region which plays a key role in global energy supplies and shipping routes – could “bring down the economies of the world”.

Brent crude oil rose more than 9% on Friday, topping $93 a barrel – the highest level since autumn 2023.

Rising oil prices can have wide-reaching effects, not only on how much it costs to fill up your vehicle but also on the cost of some heating, food and imported goods.

There are warnings that if the price of oil and gas – which has also surged this week – remain high, this could fuel inflation in major world economies such as the UK and US, where it has been on a broadly downward trend.

Kaabi said oil could hit $150 a barrel if the Iran conflict continues over the coming weeks.

He told the FT: “If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted.

“Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that can’t supply.”

Already consumers in the UK are seeing higher petrol and diesel prices. On Friday the RAC said petrol at UK pumps had increased by 3.7p, and diesel by 6p – reaching a 16-month high – since Saturday.

The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s competition watchdog, says it is “closely monitoring” how petrol station prices develop.

Household energy bills could also rise, although this probably won’t be felt until July as regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap has already been set until then.

There have been fears the current crisis could have a similar impact to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but so far rises in the prices of oil and gas remain below the peaks experienced in 2022.

Asked about the energy minister’s warnings, Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy, told the BBC the situation poses a “real risk to the global economy”.

“I think we’re on the edge of trying to understand if this is a very short energy crisis with limited implications, or if we’re at the beginning of a massive economic and energy crisis,” he said.

“If this lasts for more than two weeks, then the likelihood of seeing very significant implications for the energy system and the global macroeconomic outlook are much higher.”

Qatar is a major producer and exporter of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

This week QatarEnergy said it had stopped production of LNG following “military attacks” on its facilities.

It declared “force majeure” – a clause freeing it from liability for failure to supply due to events outside its control – and Kaabi said he believed all other energy exporters would have to follow suit in the next few days if the war continues.

Kaabi, who is also chief executive of QatarEnergy, said even if the war stopped now, it would take “weeks to months” to resume normal output.

About a fifth of the world’s oil supply is usually shipped through the Strait of Hormuz each day. But traffic through the narrow passage has all but halted since the US-Israel war with Iran began last weekend.

Blocking the strait could make goods and services more expensive globally, and hit some of the world’s biggest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the top importers of crude oil passing through the waterway.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia both have pipelines enabling them to transport oil without using the strait.

But analysts have warned that the longer there are threats to ships passing through the strait, the higher the price of oil – and the shipping of it – will be.

Rystad Energy’s Leon said if countries in the Gulf cannot export oil they will need to store it, and, when this storage runs out, stop production. They have between days and a few weeks of reaching that point, depending on how much storage they have.

Oil prices exceeding $100 a barrel is a “realistic scenario”, but the important thing is how long they stay at that level, he said.

Governments across the world at that point would likely release their oil reserves, as happened after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter, said a prolonged halt to all oil and gas production in the Gulf was an “extreme scenario”.

Market moves suggest investors expect disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will be resolved quickly, she said, but added that the risk grows every day that the conflict will be more prolonged than first thought.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy031ylgepro

Iceland’s government has said a vote on resuming accession talks with the EU will be held in August. Iceland withdrew from talks in 2013 — but rising costs, the war in Ukraine and US imperialism have prompted a rethink.

Icelanders will vote on whether to resume European Union (EU) accession talks somewhat earlier than previously planned, according to Reykjavik’s foreign ministry.

A decision to hold the vote on August 29 passed the Cabinet on Friday. The proposal, put forth by Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir’s center-left coalition government, must be approved by Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, before the vote can actually take place.

The government says it will present the proposal to parliament early next week.

Should Icelanders support the resumption of talks and should these lead to an invitation to join the bloc, a second and final referendum on membership would then be held.

However, if the August vote fails, the issue is off the table for good says the government.

Iceland public broadcaster RUV cited a new Gallup poll showing that 57% of the population backs a resumption of EU membership talks, while 30% remain opposed.

Iceland: Decades of close ties to EU but skepticism remains

Opinion polls show that Icelanders are increasingly concerned about rising living costs as well as being unnerved by the geopolitical volatility of the Arctic as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on and the US having threatened annexation of nearby Greenland.

Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said Iceland’s negotiating position vis-a-vis Brussels is good, noting that Reykjavik would be a strong and reliable partner within the EU.

Although Iceland has had very close ties to Europe for decades, strong opposition to membership remains, for instance among farmers and those who fear a negative impact on Iceland’s fishing industry if Brussels forces fisherman to share the nation’s rich North Atlantic waters with boats from other EU nations.

A country of around of 400,000 inhabitants, Iceland works with Brussels in the European Economic Area (EEA) and is a member of the Schengen visa-free travel area. It is also the smallest member of NATO, relying on the military alliance for its security.

US and Russia driving Iceland’s interest in joining the EU

EU accession is a years-long process run by the European Commission.

Throughout, applicants are assessed according to 35 sets of criteria — from transparency and financial systems, to fisheries, transportation infrastructure, agricultural regulations, and freedom of speech and religion.

All 27 current EU member states must unanimously agree to admit an applicant.

EU membership would give ⁠Reykyavik a direct say ​in decisions made at EU institutions like the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament.

Iceland began its initial path toward EU membership in 2009, after the fiercely independent nation’s investment-banking economy was devastated by the 2008 financial crisis. Four years later, Iceland’s then-euroskeptic government decided to withdraw the membership bid.

When Frostadottir’s center-left government was elected in 2024, it promised a referendum by 2027, however, US President Donald Trump’s threats of annexing Greenland from NATO ally Denmark — as well perhaps as his inability to tell the two neighboring Nordic nations apart, as recently seen and heard at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he rambled on about Iceland when in fact he meant Greenland — have prompted a greater sense of urgency in the matter.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iceland-to-hold-referendum-on-resuming-eu-membership-bid/a-76253971

Children under 16 years old in Indonesia will be prohibited from accessing TikTok, Roblox, Instagram and other online platforms.

Indonesia will bar users under 16 from accessing major social media platforms under a new regulation, Communication Minister Meutya Hafid said.

The restrictions will apply to “high-risk” platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox. The restrictions are set to roll out gradually, starting later this month.

New restrictions due to ‘digital emergency’

“Our children face increasingly real threats — from exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and, most importantly, addiction,” Meutya said. “The government is here so parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant algorithm.”

The minister acknowledged that the policy may inconvenience children and parents but described it as necessary amid what she called a “digital emergency condition.”

Accounts already registered to users under 16 will be deactivated, Meutya said.

The government has yet to outline how platforms will verify users’ ages — an issue that has complicated similar efforts in other countries.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-to-ban-social-media-for-under-16s-minister-says/a-76245473

Voters in the Himalayan nation have soured on establishment parties and politicians. Early returns hint at a newcomer party taking the reins after Gen Z protests demanding change last year.

Early election returns in the Himalayan nation of Nepal point to a potential landslide victory for the newcomer Rastriya Swatantra Party (National Independence Party, or RSP) in general elections, with establishment parties, so far, trailing far behind.

The centrist-liberal RSP was founded in 2022 and has put great emphasis on transparency, digital modernization and good governance.

The vote was largely focused on political change in an echo of deadly youth protests in the nation last year.

Nepal’s Election Commission said preliminary results in the 24 hours since polls closed showed RSP winning three of parliament’s 165 open seats and leading decisively in the race for 110 more.

Establishment parties Nepali Congress, the big winner in the last election; and the Communist Party of Nepal, led by Sharma Oli, were leading in 13 and 11 races, respectively.

A final tally is expected in the next several days.

If the trend holds, RSP could be on track to snatch a nearly two-thirds majority in Nepal’s 275-member parliament.

On Friday evening, Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said counting was proceeding “in a peaceful manner.”

Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, a 73-year-old former chief justice who reluctantly came out of retirement to temporarily lead the nation, also praised the peaceful conduct of a vote she said was critical in “determining our future.”

The Election Commission says a total of 3,400 candidates vied for seats in the vote, adding that voter turnout was 59% in the nation of 30 million.

Former rapper could be Nepal’s next prime minister

Nepal’s vote comes after youth-led protests, largely labeled a Gen Z uprising, sparked violent clashes with authorities last September.

Initially triggered by a proposed social media ban, the protests also lashed out at systemic corruption and economic hardship. In the end, 77 people were killed and several government buildings were burned during the tumult.

In the vote to replace Nepal’s interim government, former rapper Balendra Shah currently looks like a potential frontrunner for the job of prime minister. Better known by his stage name Balen, Shah is one of a slew of young candidates eager to lead the country in a new direction.

Shah has painted himself as a symbol of the youth vote for change in what observers say is the most hotly contested vote since the end of Nepal’s civil war in 2006.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/nepal-early-vote-returns-suggest-massive-political-shift/a-76255769

The family of Daim Zainuddin, an influential two-time finance minister who died in November 2024, said in a statement it was “public knowledge” that the investigation targeted Daim’s widow Na’imah Abdul Khalid and their sons.

The family of Malaysia’s influential former finance minister filed a lawsuit on Friday (Mar 6) against the prime minister, chief of police and the government to halt what they said were false claims of a plot to overthrow the government allegedly involving his widow and sons.

A week ago, police announced an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to “topple the government and sabotage national stability”, which they said involved a local influential figure as well as an international media agency.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday the suspect had engaged the PR firm to launch a coordinated attack aimed at undermining national institutions before the next election.

Neither Anwar nor the police have identified the suspect or the firm.

The family of Daim Zainuddin, an influential two-time finance minister who died in November 2024, said in a statement on Friday it was “public knowledge” that the investigation targeted Daim’s widow Na’imah Abdul Khalid and their sons.

An unverified copy of a police report circulating online accused Na’imah of plotting to overthrow the government. In a statement last week, she denied wrongdoing and questioned whether consulting a PR firm could qualify as an attempt to topple a government.

The family said their lawsuit sought to challenge what it called “abuse of power” by Anwar, Police Inspector-General Mohd Khalid Ismail and the government, and for the court to declare that the investigation is unlawful and tainted with bad faith.

Anwar’s office, the police and the attorney-general’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The police said last week the investigation was being carried out under laws against undermining parliamentary democracy, an offence that carries a maximum jail term of 20 years.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-anwar-ibrahim-police-chief-daim-zainuddin-5976921

Netflix has officially cut ties with Meghan Markle’s polarizing lifestyle brand, As Ever, Page Six can confirm.

“Her show did not go on so it did not make sense to continue the partnership,” an industry source exclusively told Page Six, referring to Markle’s two-season series, “With Love, Meghan.”

A Netflix spokesperson told Page Six in a statement, “Meghan’s passion for elevating everyday moments in beautiful yet simple ways inspired the creation of the As Ever brand, and we are glad to have played a role in bringing that vision to life.”

“As it was always intended, Meghan will continue growing the brand and take it into its next chapter independently, and we look forward to celebrating how she continues to bring joy to households around the world,” the statement added.

A source close to the matter tells Page Six it was always the plan to get As Ever running on its “own two feet” and said Netflix and the duchess will continue their mutually supportive relationship, adding: “We can expect to see seasonal specials of ‘With Love, Meghan.’”

Meanwhile, an As Ever spokesperson told Page Six that the company “is grateful for Netflix’s partnership through launch and our first year.”

“We have experienced meaningful and rapid growth and As Ever is now ready to stand on its own,” the spokesperson continued. “We have an exciting year ahead and can’t wait to share more.”

Markle, 44, and Prince Harry negotiated a $100 million deal with Netflix after leaving the royal family in 2020.

They released multiple projects under the lucrative contract including their 2023 tell-all documentary, “Harry & Meghan,” which was a huge hit for the streamer.

However, their “Polo” doc and “With Love, Meghan” failed to make a splash.

The latter project — which she used to promote her As Ever goods — was not recommissioned by Netflix for a third season amid falling ratings, Page Six previously confirmed.

Last August, we reported that the couple extended their partnership with the streamer — but for an amount “much” less than the original deal.

Under the new deal, the Sussexes had several projects in the works including adaptations of Carley Fortune’s hit book “Meet Me at the Lake” and Jasmine Guillory’s romantic novel, “The Wedding Date.”

Netflix paid around $3 million for the rights to “Meet Me at the Lake.”

But Page Six was recently told that both projects were stuck in limbo, leaving their entire deal in jeopardy.

“Three years in development for a movie like this at Netflix isn’t good,” a Hollywood source told us.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/03/06/royal-family/netflix-ends-partnership-with-meghan-markle/

“But I have a question for you: I just want to know how the protests you are holding where you live, disturbing things in your area, are going to benefit you?” Shilpa Chaudhary asked protesters in India.

Criticising protests in India over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israel strikes, an Indian-origin woman who serves in the US army has said they hurt how others view the country.

In a video post on Instagram in Hindi, Shilpa Chaudhary, who holds a US Green Card, said she didn’t feel like celebrating Holi this year because of all that is going on in the world.

Asserting that she is not anti-Muslim and has a Muslim best friend, Chaudhary said she is against radicalism.

“What I want to ensure is that I don’t want the people of India to be made a mockery of, which is happening worldwide. Maybe you don’t realise it while sitting there (in India), but I can see a lot from where I am now,” she said.

“Protests are being held in India in various places. I understand that you are religiously very hurt right now. I won’t comment on that. But I have a question for you: I just want to know how the protests you are holding where you live, disturbing things in your area, are going to benefit you? What are you demanding from your state government? What will they do? How were they involved?” she asked.

Chaudhary also claimed that people in Iran are celebrating Khamenei’s death, and this wouldn’t have happened if he were truly a good person.

“So, please, open your eyes. Think bigger. India is viewed with great respect worldwide. Please don’t destroy that respect… Love the country where you live. Don’t force people to say that if you love another country so much, you should go and live there,” she said.

Khamenei was killed, along with several other high-profile figures, on Saturday, the first day of the strikes carried out by US and Israel. He took control of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-israel-war-iran-war-israel-war-idont-want-people-to-mock-indian-in-us-army-slams-pro-khamenei-protests-11178889?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

The Israeli Air Force said approximately 50 jets took part in the operation, guided by precise intelligence from Israel’s Military Intelligence and coordinated with Mossad.

Israeli fighter jets carried out a major strike in the heart of Tehran early on Friday, targeting an underground bunker built beneath the leadership compound of Iran’s supreme leader. The Israeli Air Force said approximately 50 jets took part in the operation, guided by precise intelligence from Israel’s Military Intelligence and coordinated with Mossad. The target was the underground bunker constructed for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Israeli military described the bunker as serving as “a secure emergency asset” intended for Khamenei to manage fighting during a conflict. It was never used by Khamenei because he had already been eliminated in earlier strikes during Operation “Roaring Lion”. After his death, the compound continued to be used by other senior officials of the Iranian regime.

According to the Israeli Air Force, the regime had spent years developing the underground site with the aim of creating a base to advance its military plans and to promote what Israel called its extremist and brutal ideology directed against Israel and the Western world.

“The underground bunker sprawled across entire streets in the heart of Tehran and included multiple entry points and rooms for gatherings of the senior officials of the Iranian terror regime,” the Israeli Air Force said in a statement.

The strike followed extensive intelligence gathering and prolonged research by Israel’s Military Intelligence. The leadership compound itself served as the central and most important headquarters of the Iranian regime. The Israeli military said the destruction of the bunker has further damaged the regime’s command and control capabilities.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who held power as Iran’s supreme leader for more than three decades, was killed in joint United States and Israeli strikes. He was 86. Iranian state media announced his death early on Sunday following a major attack launched by Israel and the United States.

Hours earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that Khamenei had been killed in the joint operation.

Khamenei took control of the Islamic Republic in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader who had overthrown the Shah and established rule by Shiite Muslim clerics. Khomeini had been a charismatic figure who led the 1979 revolution. Khamenei, by contrast, was a more reserved personality with less prominent religious qualifications.

He turned the revolutionary system into a functioning state apparatus and ruled for far longer than his predecessor. During his time in power, he expanded the Shiite clerical establishment and strengthened the Revolutionary Guard, turning it into the most powerful institution in the country.

The Guard served as an elite military force, controlled the ballistic missile programme and operated across large parts of Iran’s economy.

Iranian state media reported that Khamenei’s daughter, his son-in-law, a grandchild and a daughter-in-law were also killed in Saturday’s attack. The government has announced 40 days of public mourning and a seven-day nationwide public holiday.

Fresh Wave Of Attacks

On Friday morning, the Israeli military announced the start of a broad wave of attacks. Witnesses reported intense explosions in Tehran and around missile bases near Kermanshah. Israel said it had destroyed most of Iran’s air-defence systems and missile launchers. Iran responded by firing missiles and drones at Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries hosting US forces. No immediate casualties were reported from those attacks.

In Lebanon, Israel carried out multiple airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas, prompting large numbers of people to flee.

The United States and Israel have conducted nationwide strikes on Iranian military sites, leadership targets and nuclear facilities. Iranian counterattacks have affected Arab states, disrupted oil supplies and global air travel. Officials report at least 1,230 deaths in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon, around a dozen in Israel and six US troops killed.

The US military reported striking an Iranian drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, which caught fire. The vessel is a converted container ship with a 180-metre runway for drones and a range of 22,000 nautical miles without refuelling.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-israel-war-live-updates-tehran-khamenei-mossad-cia-50-israeli-fighter-jets-with-mossad-help-rain-hellfire-on-tehran-bunkers-11177888?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran’s leadership has been “neutered,” adding that he is seeking new leadership in the country that would treat the United States and Israel well, even if that leader is religious and the system is not democratic.

“Iran is not the same country it was a week ago. A week ago they were powerful, and now they’ve been indeed neutered,” he told CNN in a phone interview.

During the conversation, he also said Cuba would fall “pretty soon” and stressed the significance of voter ID legislation, suggesting it could influence his endorsement in the Texas Senate race.

“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too. They want to make a deal so badly,” he said.

Trump also said he believes selecting a new leader in Iran would be straightforward, a process he has indicated he would play a role in, and again likened the situation to Venezuela, where the United States captured Nicolás Maduro earlier this year and installed his deputy as leader.

“It’s gonna work very easily. It’s going to work like did in Venezuela. We have a wonderful leader there. She’s doing a fantastic job. And it’s going to work Iike in Venezuela,” he said, referring to acting president Delcy Rodriguez.

Trump also indicated that he would be open to the possibility of a religious leader in Iran. “Well I may be yeah, I mean, it depends on who the person is. I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic,” he said.

When asked whether he believes Iran must become a democratic state, Trump told CNN, “No, I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners.”

He further praised the United States’ ties with countries in the West Asia, saying they are “fighting for us.”

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/iran-leadership-neutered-trump-looks-for-new-leader-that-treats-us-and-israel-well-ws-l-9946968.html

This is the second post to appear on Khamenei’s account since his reported death.

A post from the X account of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday warned Israel that the “Zionist regime has made a big mistake”, days after he was reportedly killed in a joint US–Israel strike on February 28.

The message, shared on the account six days after the strike, said, “The Zionist regime has made a big mistake, and its consequences will make the regime desperate, by God’s grace.”

The post was accompanied by an AI-generated image that appeared to show a hypersonic missile, although the message itself did not mention any specific weapon or refer to possible attacks.

This is the second post to appear on Khamenei’s account since his reported death. On March 1, the account shared a verse from the Holy Quran. “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Among the faithful are men who fulfil what they have pledged to Allah… and they have not changed in the least (Holy Quran 33:23),” the post read. It remains unclear who is currently managing the account.

War In West Asia Escalates

The online warning comes as the war in West Asia continues to intensify. The conflict began on February 28 with a joint US–Israeli attack on Iran. Tehran responded with strikes across the Gulf region, targeting locations in Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which it said were aimed at US military bases. Iran has also launched attacks on Israel.

Now in its seventh day, the conflict has expanded beyond the immediate region, affecting global energy and transport routes. Oil prices have surged sharply and shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted.

The fighting has also drawn in other actors. Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon launched missiles at Israel, prompting Israeli air strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon. Heavy damage has been reported in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the group.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/zionist-regime-made-a-big-mistake-warning-to-israel-from-khameneis-x-account-ws-l-9946870.html

A US federal court in Brooklyn convicted Pakistani national Asif Raza Merchant of plotting to assassinate senior American political figures, including President Donald Trump. Prosecutors said the murder-for-hire plan was linked to retaliation for the 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Merchant, arrested in July 2024, now faces possible life imprisonment.

A Pakistani national accused of links to Iran has been convicted in a United States federal court for plotting to assassinate senior American political figures, including US President Donald Trump, prosecutors confirmed on Friday.

The man, identified as Asif Raza Merchant, was found guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on charges related to transnational terrorism and murder-for-hire. According to an AFP report quoting prosecutors, Merchant attempted to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination of a prominent US politician or government official as retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Soleimani, who led overseas operations for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in January 2020 during a US drone strike in Baghdad ordered by the administration of then-President Trump. The strike triggered widespread tensions in the region, and Iranian leaders repeatedly pledged to avenge his death.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Merchant had strong connections to Iran and was part of a broader effort linked to Iranian interests to target American leaders, AFP reported. They described the alleged assassination plan as resembling tactics historically associated with the Iranian government.

Court proceedings revealed that Merchant allegedly sought a contract killer to carry out the attack on US soil. While investigators said the plot involved potential targets in American politics, Merchant testified that he was never given a definitive assassination order against a specific individual.

IRGC Pressurised Merchant Into Participating In Killing Plot

In his testimony on Wednesday, Merchant claimed he had been coerced into participating in the plan. He told the court that he feared for the safety of his family living in Tehran, stating that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards pressured him into cooperating. Merchant also said he believed authorities would apprehend him before any attack could take place.

According to testimony presented during the trial, Merchant’s alleged Iranian contact referenced three prominent US political figures while discussing the operation: President Trump, former President Joe Biden, and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/pakistani-man-convicted-in-us-court-over-alleged-iran-linked-plot-to-assassinate-donald-trump

U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Friday, a dramatic escalation one week into the war he launched alongside Israelthat could make it more difficult to negotiate a swift end ​to hostilities.
Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts, one of the first signals of a diplomatic initiative to end the conflict, as Israel launched ‌fresh attacks on Iran and Lebanon and Iran sent missiles into Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. military bases.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote. “After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Trump’s demand, and the likelihood that it would complicate any quick path to ending a conflict that has interrupted global energy supplies, rattled financial markets. European and U.S. stock indexes finished the day sharply lower, and oil futures hit ​their highest prices since 2023, as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has constrained the flow of energy supplies.

Trump had told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday that he must have a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah ​Ali Khamenei, killed on the war’s first day.
A White House spokeswoman said consideration was already underway.
“I know there’s a number of people that our intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at,” Karoline Leavitt told ⁠reporters on Friday.
Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told reporters on Friday that new leadership would be chosen “in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people – without any foreign interference.”

ISRAEL POUNDS BEIRUT AFTER MASS EVACUATION ORDER

On the ground, Israel ​pursued a major expansion of the war in Lebanon, pounding the capital Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the entire southern suburbs of the city.

Israel said the targets included a Beirut command centre used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy unit, along with command centres that ​it said were used by the Hezbollah militant group.
There was no immediate comment from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard or Hezbollah.
Israel also launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker still being used by Iran’s leadership beneath Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media: “Some countries have begun mediation efforts.” He did not identify the countries or provide further details.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest hesitation in defending the dignity and authority of our country,” he wrote.

Israel has extended its bombing to Lebanon to root ​out Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militia allied to Iran that has been a dominant faction in Lebanese politics since the 1980s. Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the death of Khamenei.
“We’re sleeping here in the streets – some in cars, some on the street, some on the ​beach,” said Jamal Seifeddin, 43, who fled Beirut’s southern suburbs and spent the night on the streets in the downtown district. “No one even brought a blanket.”
Israel has intervened in Lebanon repeatedly over decades, most recently in 2024. But the ferocity of Friday’s strikes had little precedent.
About 300,000 people have been ‌displaced in Lebanon ⁠in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Inside Israel, explosions could be heard as Israeli defenses activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire. The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh drone and missile attacks.
The Israeli military says it has destroyed 80% of Iran’s air-defense systems in the first week of the campaign and disabled more than 60% of its missile launchers.
Russia is providing Iran with locations of U.S. warships and aircraft in the Middle East after Iran’s ability to locate U.S. forces was degraded, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.
Russian missions in the U.S. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
Meanwhile, Trump met with executives from seven defense contractors on Friday, who agreed to accelerate weapons production, the president said on social media. The administration has been pressuring ​contractors as Iran and other recent operations have drawn down supplies.
Leavitt ​said the U.S. has enough weapons stockpiles to meet the ⁠needs of its Iran operations, which she said would take about four to six weeks to complete.

‘WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO CHOOSE THAT PERSON’, TRUMP SAYS

In insisting on the right to help choose Iran’s next leader – meant to be a senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric selected by a panel of religious experts – Trump made his most explicit demand for control over a country of more than 90 million people.
Israel has said ​openly that it aims to overthrow Iran’s ruling system. It has been bombing parts of western Iran to support Iranian Kurdish militias who hope to exploit the war to seize towns near the ​frontier, according to three sources familiar with ⁠Israel’s talks with the factions.
Iran has cast the war as an unprovoked attack and describes the killing of its leader, Khamenei, as an assassination. It says the panel that will choose the new leader is conducting its work.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-urges-iranian-kurds-attack-iran-war-widens-2026-03-06/

A spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards challenged ​U.S. President Donald Trump to deploy U.S. ‌naval vessels to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported on ​Friday.
The U.S. Navy could begin escorting oil ​tankers through the Strait of Hormuz ⁠if necessary, Trump said on Tuesday. The conflict ​in the Middle East has halted shipping and ​energy exports through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

• Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said: “Iran strongly welcomes the escort ​of oil tankers and that U.S. ​forces will be there for the crossing of the ‌Strait ⁠of Hormuz. And we are, by the way, awaiting their presence,” according to state media

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-guards-challenges-trump-have-us-navy-escort-oil-tankers-strait-hormuz-2026-03-06/

Israel has been bombing parts of western Iran to support Iranian Kurdish militias who hope to exploit the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran to seize towns near the frontier, ​according to three sources familiar with Israel’s talks with the factions.
The notion of an offensive by Iranian Kurdish forces based in Iraq gained attention on Friday when U.S. ‌President Donald Trump told Reuters it would be “wonderful” if they crossed the border.

A Kurdish insurgency could have serious consequences for Iran as it defends itself against the air campaign. The militias have consulted with the U.S. about how and whether to attack Iran’s security forces, Reuters has reported.

ISRAELI TALKS WITH IRANIAN KURDS STRETCH BACK A YEAR

Israel has been holding its own talks with Iranian Kurdish insurgent groups based in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan for around a year, two Iranian Kurdish sources ​said, while an Israeli source said talks had been “long-term”.
The two Iranian Kurdish sources have direct knowledge of the armed dissident groups and the source from Israel has direct knowledge of its engagement ​with them. All spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel’s government and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Israel has not commented ⁠publicly on such engagement during the current war.
An initial goal of the Kurdish factions would be seizing Iranian territory along the border, the three sources said. One of the Kurdish sources said their aim ​was to seize the towns of Oshnavieh and Piranshahr, among others.
These sources said thousands of fighters were gathering on the Iraqi side of the border and preparing to launch an offensive within a week, something Reuters ​was not able to confirm.
Independent estimates put the militias’ combined strength at 5,000-8,000.
They possess only light arms, according to the Kurdish sources. But while they might not have the firepower to mount a significant bid for self-rule, with U.S. and Israeli help they could cause trouble on the border.

The Israeli source said Israel did not expect them to be able to overthrow their government, but that backing them could erode Iran’s control over its hinterlands and distract its Islamic Revolutionary Guard ​Corps.
Five long-standing Iranian dissident groups announced an alliance just at the end of last month.
It includes the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), which have all participated in ​insurgencies and maintain fighters in Iraq.
It is not clear that they will get any support from their ethnic brethren in Iraq, however; Iraqi Kurdistan’s political leadership has publicly denied any plan to send fighters or get involved in Iran, ‌despite reports of ⁠outside pressure to do so.
The Israeli source cautioned that there was pushback from the Iraqi Kurds, and without their practical support it would be hard for the Iranian Kurds to mobilise. Trump’s lack of clarity on how long the war could last had also led to hesitancy.

Iran has been attacking Kurdish armed groups inside Iraq, along with U.S. bases in the area, and on Friday warned Iraqi Kurdistan that it would retaliate against any deployment of hostile forces on the frontier.

IRANIAN KURDS ‘PROVIDING TARGET INFORMATION’ FOR AIR WAR

The three sources said Kurds within Iran had been providing targeting intelligence on the border areas to the U.S. and Israel.
Israeli ​analyst Jonathan Spyer said Israel was seeking to “destroy the ​regime by any means available”.
But Danny Citrinowicz, ⁠an Iran expert and former Israeli intelligence officer, said an insurgency in Iran did not have broad support among Iraqi and Iranian Kurds:
“I think they’re all waiting to see if the regime will hold on or not.”
Turkish and Iraqi officials, neither keen to support separatism among an ethnic group spread across parts of Iraq, ​Turkey, Syria and Iran, have also expressed reservations about any insurgency in Iran.
Citrinowicz said supporting an uprising might backfire on the U.S. and Israel by ​fanning nationalism.
Israel has maintained discreet ⁠military, intelligence and business ties with various Kurdish groups since the 1960s, viewing them as a buffer against shared adversaries.
The two Kurdish sources said the factions were in closer coordination with the U.S. than with Israel, but that any cross-border offensive would require air support from both.
One of those sources said they had not yet received weapons, but would request air defence systems, drones, small arms, and artillery support.
Kurdish groups have a long history of working ⁠with the U.S., ​but recent incidents have strained ties.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-backing-iranian-kurdish-plans-seize-iran-border-areas-sources-say-2026-03-06/

The U.S. Justice Department released FBI records on Thursday that summarize interviews of an ‌unidentified woman in which she made accusations against President Donald Trump related to an alleged sexual encounter.

FBI agents interviewed the woman four times in 2019 as part of their investigation into accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department had previously released a log confirming that ​the interviews took place but released a summary of only one of those four meetings, in which ​she accused Epstein of molesting her when she was a teenager.

Finland plans to lift its long-standing ban on having nuclear weapons on its territory, in a move the government says would align the country more closely with Nato’s deterrence policy.

Defence minister Antti Häkkänen Finland and Europe’s security environment had “fundamentally and significantly changed” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

The Nordic nation abandoned decades of military neutrality to join Nato in 2023 over mounting concerns about the threat posed by Russia.

Under Finland’s 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, the import, manufacture, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives is prohibited on Finnish soil – even during wartime.

The government proposal would change that, making it possible to “bring a nuclear weapon into Finland, or to transport, deliver or possess one in Finland, if it is connected to the military defence of Finland”, Häkkänen said.

“The amendment is necessary to enable Finland’s military defense as part of the alliance and to take full advantage of Nato’s deterrence and collective defence,” he told a news conference on Thursday.

Nato’s founding principle of collective defence – that an attack on one member nation would be treated as an attack on all – underpins the alliance’s nuclear deterrence stategy.

As it contains several nuclear powers, this means a direct attack on a member brings with it the risk of a nuclear response. US nuclear weapons are stationed in several European nations, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.

The Finnish government’s proposal requires changes to both the country’s Nuclear Energy Act and the criminal code.

Its governing right-wing coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, said the proposal had been circulated for consultation until 2 April before it is formally laid out.

Finland shares a 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia – the longest of any EU or Nato member state – and its leaders have repeatedly warned that the country’s security environment had deteriorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Nordic nation became the 31st member of Nato in April 2023, widely seen as a strategic setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had long criticised the military alliance’s eastward expansion. Its neighbour Sweden joined Nato in 2024.

Since then, Nato has increased its military presence in the Arctic and Baltic Sea, as well as along the newly expanded eastern flank.

The proposal comes as European countries step up defence co-operation in response to the war in Ukraine and broader global instability.

Several Nato states suffered air traffic disruption after drones were sighted over airports and airbases last year, which some European officials attributed to “hybrid warfare” on the part of Russia.

Moscow denied involvement, but the incidents prompted renewed discussions about collective defence.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14m5llnrlpo

Britney Spears has been arrested in California under suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The singer was detained by California Highway Patrol (CHP) at around 21:30 local time (05:30 GMT) on Wednesday. A representative for her told the BBC: “This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.”

Spears was reported to authorities for driving her BMW “erratically at a high rate of speed” on a motorway, CHP said. She “showed signs of impairment” and submitted to a series of field sobriety tests after she was pulled over.

She was released from jail in the early hours of Thursday morning and is due to appear at Ventura County Superior Court on 4 May.

Spears’ representative told the BBC: “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.

“Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.

“Her boys are going to be spending time with her. Her loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well being.”

The incident is still under investigation and chemical test results are pending, CHP said.

Spears was driving alone in her black BMW 430i southbound on US-101 when officers pulled her over.

Her car was impounded after the incident, according to jail records, which also list her occupation as “celebrity”.

The BBC has learned that Spears was not admitted to hospital after the arrest, but was briefly taken to a medical facility by law enforcement for the purpose of administering blood tests, in accordance with drink-driving protocol in the state.

The pop star appeared to have deleted her Instagram account on Thursday as news of her arrest broke.

Spears is one of the most successful pop stars ever, with hits such as Baby One More Time, Toxic, Everytime, Gimme More, Womanizer, and Stronger.

The singer said in January 2024 that she would “never return to the music industry”. Her last song was a duet with Elton John in 2022.

However, in a since-deleted social media post from earlier this year, Spears indicated that, although she would not perform in the US again, she was hoping to play live in the UK and Australia in the near future.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjjn41l7no

US President Donald Trump has lashed out against Spain after it condemned US attacks on Iran. Will both countries break off ties?

When Donald Trump received Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Tuesday evening, the US president unleashed a tirade against Spain. He told reporters in the room that “Spain has been terrible,” and that “we’re going to cut off all trade” with the EU country.

The reason is that Spain has opposed strikes on Iran from the very beginning and has expressed this view with greater vehemence than other any other European country.

While Merz referred to US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran as a legal “dilemma,” Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the attacks as a massive breach of international law. His government then banned the US from using the two jointly operated military bases in Andalusia, southern Spain, to wage war on Iran.

Sanchez published a video message not long after Trump’s outburst doubling down on his anti-war stance, telling viewers that “we say no to the violation of international law, which protects us all, especially civilians.”

He added that anyone who acts like the US plays “Russian roulette with the fate of millions of people.”

Spanish PM has public’s backing

The prime minister’s strong words seem to have struck a chord with many of his compatriots.

“I think our government is only being consistent in its foreign policy — we should not simply submit to the US,” Gladys Gbegnedji, a project manager from Madrid, told DW.

Francisco Huesa, a teacher from Sevilla, similarly supports his government. He told DW he does not fear negative consequences that could result from this falling out.

“How can it be that European countries that call themselves democratic simply support attacks that violate international law?” Huesa asked in an interview with DW.

He also expressed great disappointment with Germany’s role in the current conflict.

Huesa and many other Spaniards who watched Trump’s tirade could not help noticing that his guest, Chancellor Merz, did not speak up to defend Spain at any point. On the contrary: Merz assured Trump that Spain would be persuaded to provide more funds for NATOin the future. It was only after the meeting that Merz told journalists the European Union would react to any punitive US measures against Spain.

This prompted Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares to criticize the German leader, saying: “While we have been in government, we have seen three German chancellors: Merkel, Scholz and now Merz — and under Merkel and Scholz, there was a distinctly pro-European spirit.”

Will the war create a rift in Europe?

While Spanish political scientist Rafael Calduch Cervera is concerned that the Iran war is deepening divisions within the European Union, he is also critical of Prime Minister Sanchez. The Spanish leader, Cervera says, finds himself under domestic pressure from his left-wing coalition partners, which is why he now resorts to such outspoken foreign policy rhetoric. Cervera says this rhetoric is really aimed at the Spanish populace back home, but has also needlessly maneuvered Spain into an awkward place on the global stage.

Cervera does not foresee a severing of economic ties between Spain and the US, despite Trump’s threats.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iran-war-strains-us-spain-relations/a-76234578