Category: World

Diplomats will be in Islamabad for two days (Sunday and Monday) of talks “on a range of issues, including efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.”

Pakistan is gearing up to host a key round of US-Iran war mediation talks in Islamabad this weekend, with top diplomats from across the Middle East set to discuss peace, even as tensions and mistrust continue to run high on all sides.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will send their top diplomats to Islamabad for discussions aimed at ending the conflict, arriving on Sunday for a two-day visit, Pakistan said, reported AFP. The talks are expected to focus on de-escalation and broader regional stability.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he held “extensive discussions” with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the escalating situation.

Who is attending

The talks will see participation from senior diplomats across the region. According to Pakistan, the key attendees include:

Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt

Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar, who will lead the discussions

The Pakistani government said the diplomats will be in Islamabad for two days (Sunday and Monday) of talks “on a range of issues, including efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.”

Representatives involved in ongoing backchannel diplomacy between Iran and the United States are also expected to be part of the discussions.

It was not immediately clear who would be representing Tehran in the talks.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that US Vice President JD Vance could be involved in leading the US side of the conversation. According to a CNN report, Tehran has indicated that talks led by US special envoy Steve Witkoff or by Jared Kushner would be unlikely to succeed, citing a deep deficit of trust following the collapse of earlier negotiations before the outbreak of hostilities.

Pakistan’s mediation push

Sharif’s government has taken on a central role in facilitating communication between Tehran and Washington, acting as an intermediary for messages between the two sides.

Sharif said he had a “detailed telephone conversation with my brother President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran earlier today, lasting over one hour,” ahead of the talks.

Iran’s President Pezeshkian, in turn, welcomed Islamabad’s efforts and “thanked Pakistan for its mediation efforts to stop the aggression against the Islamic republic,” according to his office.

Despite the diplomatic push, Iran has signaled caution. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to his Turkish counterpart, expressed doubts over ongoing efforts.

State media said Araghchi accused the United States of making “unreasonable demands” and showing “contradictory actions,” reported AFP.

He also conveyed this position in a separate conversation with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who urged “an end to all attacks and hostilities.”

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan-hosts-key-us-iran-mediation-talks-in-islamabad-who-is-attending-101774743582639.html

Three people were killed and 23 others injured, nine critically, after a fire broke out in a building in Taiyuan, north China’s Shanxi Province on Saturday evening.

Three people were killed and 23 others injured, including nine in serious condition, after a fire broke out in a building in Taiyuan, the capital of north China’s Shanxi Province, on Saturday evening, according to reports from state media and international news agencies.

The blaze broke out at around 8 pm (local time) in Xiaodian district of Taiyuan, according to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, which cited local authorities.

Emergency services rushed to the scene soon after the fire was reported, and rescue efforts were immediately launched.

Authorities confirmed that 23 people were injured in the incident, with nine reported to be in serious condition.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Videos purportedly showing flames engulfing parts of the building and smoke billowing into the night sky have surfaced on social media platforms.

The clips, widely shared online, show emergency personnel responding to the situation and attempting to contain the blaze.

However, the authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified.

CASUALTIES CONFIRMED BY STATE MEDIA

According to Xinhua, three people died in the fire while several others sustained injuries of varying severity.

The district’s publicity department confirmed that nine of the injured remain in critical condition.

Reuters also reported the incident, citing Xinhua, and confirmed that three people were killed in the building fire in Shanxi province.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/china-shanxi-province-fire-taiyuan-building-blaze-death-toll-many-injured-china-fire-videos-ws-l-10003285.html

The test was “part of the national defence development plan in the period of the new five-year plan”, North Korean state media reported on Sunday (Mar 29).

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a ground test of an upgraded solid-fuel rocket engine, state media reported on Sunday (Mar 29), in the latest sign of Pyongyang’s push to enhance its strategic weapons arsenal.

Solid-fuel engines enable faster missile launches as they require little preparation before ignition and defence experts believe North Korea is planning to use them for the intercontinental ballistic missiles it is developing.

The test of the solid-fuel engine made of composite carbon fibre material, was “part of the national defence development plan in the period of the new five-year plan”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Pursuing such high-thrust engines “conforms with the national strategy and the military demand for modernising the strategic forces”, Mr Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA, which did not disclose the date or location of the test.

The latest engine being tested produced a higher thrust of 2,500 kilonewtons, KCNA reported.

The development demonstrates North Korea’s “resolve to acquire missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe”, Dr Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

“Given the increased maximum thrust, this indicates its intention to possess ICBMs with global strike range, as well as the ability to overwhelm missile defence systems,” he added.

It was the first officially confirmed high-thrust solid-fuel engine test since September 2025, when state media said an engine generated a maximum thrust of 1,971 kilonewtons.

Photos released by the news agency showed Mr Kim inspecting what appeared to be part of the engine, flanked by officials.

Another image showed a close-up of flames erupting from a ground-mounted engine, illuminating the surrounding test site in orange light.

Mr Kim added that North Korea’s defence capabilities had entered “a significant phase of change” in the building up of its strategic forces.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/north-korea-kim-ground-test-solid-fuel-rocket-engine-kcna-6023886

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday (Mar 29) has threatened to target US universities in the West Asia after saying US and Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities. A number of American universities operate campuses across the Gulf region, including Texas A&M University in Qatar and New York University in the United Arab Emirates. The IRGC warning followed a strike on the University of Science and Technology in northeastern Tehran, which caused damage to buildings but resulted in no casualties.

“If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation… it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the IRGC in a statement published by Iranian media. The statement added: “We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” stay a kilometer away from campuses.

On Saturday, the University of Science and Technology in Tehran was targeted in US-Israel attacks, Iranian media reported. CNN geolocated several videos which show damaged buildings at an engineering university in Tehran and confirmed the attacks. The Mehr News Agency reported that the school was struck during attacks.

The conflict traces back to February 28, when the United States and Israel carried out pre-emptive airstrikes across Iran. The subsequent escalation reportedly resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a broad Iranian retaliation targeting not just Israel but also US bases across Gulf countries.

Amid rising tensions, US President Donald Trump recently signalled openness to dialogue and is believed to have proposed a 15-point peace plan. On March 25, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that indirect exchanges between Washington and Tehran had taken place via “friendly countries,” though he stressed that these should not be seen as formal negotiations.

Source : https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-irgc-issues-ultimatum-to-us-universities-in-west-asia-after-attack-on-campuses-in-tehran-1774741664288

Some are the size of small trucks, and they’ve come crashing to the ground almost daily for a month — littering school yards, roadsides and hilltops with visceral remnants of a Middle East at war.
Across Israel and the ​occupied West Bank, massive chunks of Iranian ballistic missiles have slammed to the earth after being shot out ‌of the sky by Israeli air defence systems.

Near the Palestinian city of Nablus, a young girl posed with a missile fragment that smashed into an olive tree grove. In an Israeli school in a West Bank settlement, children climbed on a huge metal missile case that fell in their ​playground.

Nearly a month after Israel and the U.S. launched their joint war on Iran, Israelis and Palestinians have become used to ​frequent official warnings to stay away from missile fragments, which could contain unexploded ordnance or toxic ⁠materials.
“These objects may appear harmless at first glance, but can pose a risk of explosion and shrapnel,” Israel’s national ambulance service ​said on Friday.

MISSILE FRAGMENTS FALL IN PALESTINIAN TOWNS

At least 270 missile fragments have fallen across the West Bank, the majority near Ramallah, ​with others landing near Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Salfit, according to figures issued by the Palestinian Authority’s civil defense.

It cooperates with police to move missile fragments to secure locations, said civil defense spokesperson Nael Azza. At least three Palestinians had been arrested for trying to sell off missile fragments ​as scrap metal, he said.
Since the beginning of the war, movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli military on the West Bank ​combined with a spike in Jewish settler violence have delayed emergency response efforts in the West Bank, Azza said.
Lahjat Hamaj, 59, a resident of ‌the Palestinian ⁠village of Beitin near Ramallah, where a missile fragment had fallen recently, said that it took about two hours for emergency response teams to reach them.
“When this missile (fragment) fell, the sound was strong across the whole town,” said Hamaj.
Israel says its West Bank restrictions since the start of the war are aimed at reducing threats to troops deployed in the area.

SOME FRAGMENTS ARE FIVE METRES ​LONG

Iran has launched hundreds of ​missiles towards Israel since the ⁠start of the war, during which the U.S. and Israel have bombed thousands of targets in Iran, killing an estimated 3,300 people.
When they are shot down by Israel’s missile defence system, which authorities say ​has a 90% interception rate, shrapnel and missile fragments often fall to the ground — causing ​damage, injury and ⁠sometimes death.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/huge-iranian-missile-fragments-scattered-across-israel-west-bank-2026-03-27/

As the video opens, Democratic Texas State Representative James Talarico appears to stand in front of a Texas flag, beaming.
“Radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country,” the U.S. Senate candidate seems to say into the camera. As a voice whispers “white men,” Talarico continues: “So true. So true.”

But Talarico never filmed ​that video. Instead, the clip is an AI-generated ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the party’s Senate campaign arm, featuring a computer-altered Talarico reciting social media posts he wrote years ago. The words “AI generated” show up in ‌easy-to-miss font in the lower righthand corner.

The realistic video is among a vanguard of “deepfake” advertisements that some campaigns are already deploying ahead of November’s midterm elections, taking advantage of AI tools that are improving at a breakneck pace.
The ads are being introduced into a media landscape with few guardrails. There is no federal regulation constraining the use of AI in political messaging, leaving only a patchwork of largely untested state laws. And while social media companies like Meta and X label certain AI-generated content, they have scrapped professional fact‑checking systems in favor of user-generated notes.

Politics experts worry such videos could leave voters confused, or even deceived. The stakes are ​high: the election will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of Republican President Donald Trump’s term, with Democrats seemingly well positioned to capture a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives but facing longer odds in the ​U.S. Senate.
The ads appear to be effective, political strategists and experts said. One 2025 study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Creative Communications, found that people struggle to identify deepfake videos and that their opinions are ⁠affected by this type of misinformation.
So far, Republicans appear to be utilizing the technology more frequently than Democrats this election cycle, according to politics experts and a Reuters review of publicly available ads.

The Republicans are following the lead of Trump’s White House, which has released scores ​of AI-generated videos and gaming-inspired memes on social media that do everything from disparaging protesters to hyping up the Iran war.
The Talarico ad, for instance, is one of three recent ads created by national Republicans that use deepfake technology – realistic yet fabricated videos made by AI algorithms that ​have become increasingly easy to create.
NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez defended the ad in a statement to Reuters, saying Democrats were “panicking after seeing and hearing James Talarico’s own words.”
JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, said that while his opponents “spend their time making deepfake videos to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November.”

Among Democrats, the most notable user of AI-generated videos is California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate who has frequently employed deepfake videos to troll Trump. But the Democratic Party’s national campaign committees have not yet sought to mirror the NRSC’s efforts in midterm campaigns.

ADS POSE MISINFORMATION ​RISKS

The campaign of Republican U.S. Representative Mike Collins of Georgia, who is vying to challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November, created a deepfake video in which Ossoff appears to say: “I just voted to keep the government shut down. They say it would hurt farmers, but ​I wouldn’t know. I’ve only seen a farm on Instagram.”
In a statement, Collins’ campaign spokesperson said that as technology evolves, the campaign “will be at the forefront embracing new tactics and strategies that pierce through lopsided legacy media coverage and deliver our message directly to voters.”
A spokesperson for Ossoff’s campaign declined ‌to comment on ⁠the ad. Days after the video ran, the campaign said “yes” when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution if it would “commit to not using deepfakes that misattribute or fabricate words or actions of their opponents to mislead voters.”
Daniel Schiff, a Purdue University professor who has studied thousands of deepfakes, said the growing use of political content that spreads misinformation risks further eroding U.S. voter trust in institutions.
“I think that the types of damage that we can do to the rigor and credibility of elections and democratic systems – and the ability to misinform people about candidates or social issues – very much risks being supercharged,” he said.
Still, political strategists say AI-generated videos can be persuasive as well as time- and cost-effective, though they stressed that they need to be used ethically. The technology can be a tool for political satire in a visual format that lends itself to watching ​and sharing on social media.

STATES PLAY CATCH-UP ON AI

With essentially no ​federal regulation in place, states have been playing catch-up. Twenty-eight ⁠states have passed legislation addressing the use of AI in political ads, with most focused on disclosure rather than an outright ban, according to Ilana Beller, who leads state legislative work on AI at the liberal consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
But those laws face limits. Many only apply to political campaigns rather than social media users who might spread AI-infused misinformation. Research also suggests that disclaimers are not effective in ​preventing voters from being persuaded by false ads, Schiff noted.
AI technology is inexpensive and accessible enough that down-ballot candidates and local political groups are using it, said Brady Smith, a national Republican political ​strategist.
For example, in February the Republican ⁠Committee for Loudoun County in northern Virginia released three AI-generated ads attacking Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger, who took office in January.
One video showed footage of Spanberger’s response to Trump’s State of the Union address interspersed with AI-generated video of her appearing to say things like “working hard to bring in commie socialist Marxism, free stuff for illegals, gun grabs and erasing gender norms.”
A spokesperson for Spanberger declined to comment. A representative for the Loudoun County Republican Committee did not reply to a request for comment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/ai-deepfakes-blur-reality-2026-us-midterm-campaigns-2026-03-28/

The risk of an expanded Iran war grew as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday launched their first attacks ​on Israel since the start of the conflict, as additional U.S. forces reached the Middle East.
Washington has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East in the month-old war. The ‌first of two contingents arrived on Friday on an amphibious assault ship, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that U.S. officials said the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, possibly involving raids by Special Operations and conventional infantry troops. Whether President Donald Trump would approve plans for deploying ground troops remained uncertain, the Post reported.
Reuters has reported the Pentagon was considering military operations that could include deploying ground troops in Iran.

LEBANESE JOURNALISTS, RESCUE WORKERS HIT

The war, launched on February 28 ​with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the world economy with the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday ​the U.S. could achieve its aims without ground troops but that it was deploying some to the region so Trump would have “maximum” flexibility to adjust strategy.
The Pentagon was ⁠also expected to deploy thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which hosts talks from Sunday with the Turkish and Saudi foreign ​ministers on ways to ease regional tensions.
Israel carried out a wave of attacks on Tehran on Saturday, targeting what Israel’s military said was Iranian government infrastructure.
It also hit targets in Lebanon, resuming its war against Iran-backed Hezbollah, killing three ​Lebanese journalists in a strike on a media vehicle, Lebanon’s Al Manar TV reported, as well as a Lebanese soldier. A follow‑up strike on the rescue workers sent to assist them also caused fatalities.

Israel’s military said it had targeted one of the journalists, accusing him of being part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit and saying he had reported on locations of Israeli soldiers.
Iran kept up attacks on Israel and several Gulf states after hitting an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday and wounding 12 U.S. military ​personnel, two of them seriously, in one of the most serious breaches of U.S. air defences so far.

Air defences shot down a drone near the residence of the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish ruling party, Masoud Barzani, ​in Erbil, security sources told Reuters early on Sunday. Security sources said on Saturday that another drone attack had targeted the home of the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Israel, which regularly faced missile attacks from the Houthis before the war, ‌confirmed a missile ⁠had been fired at it from Yemen. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

HOUTHI STRIKES MAY MEAN NEW THREAT TO SHIPPING

The attack pointed to a potential new threat to global shipping, already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, previously a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
The group carried out a second strike on Israel, said Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, vowing more strikes to come.
The Houthis have shown an ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.
With U.S. midterm elections due in November, ​the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on Trump’s Republican Party. He ​has appeared eager to end it soon, while also ⁠threatening escalation.
Demonstrators took to city streets across the U.S. on Saturday in anti-Trump rallies described by organizers as a call to action against the war on Iran.
Trump has threatened to hit Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz. But he extended a deadline he had imposed for this ​week, giving Iran another 10 days to respond.
Iranian threats to attack ships in the strait have kept most oil tankers from attempting the waterway. Iran has ​agreed to let an additional ⁠20 Pakistani-flagged vessels pass through the strait, with two ships permitted to transit daily, said Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/yemens-houthis-enter-iran-war-with-attacks-israel-while-us-marines-arrive-region-2026-03-28/

Israeli airstrikes and ground operations over the last month have largely cut off southern Lebanon from the rest of the country, depopulating dozens of towns and damaging key public services that are a lifeline for the residents that remain.

This week, Israel said it would seize southern Lebanon up to the Litani River to create a “buffer zone” against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which pulled Lebanon into the regional war by firing on Israel on March 2 in solidarity with its patron Iran.

The announcement has triggered deep fears of a prolonged Israeli occupation of the south, which was occupied by the Israeli military for more than two decades until the year 2000.

The Israeli military had already ordered the entire population of the south — nearly a tenth of Lebanese territory where hundreds of thousands of people live — to head north in Israel’s largest evacuation order yet for Lebanon.

Across Lebanon, Israeli air strikes have killed more than 1,100 people, according to the Health Ministry, and evacuation orders have displaced well over a million.

Israel says it is targeting facilities used by Hezbollah, accusing the Iran-backed group of putting civilians at risk by installing military hardware in populated areas. It says it takes precautions by warning civilians to leave the area ahead of time. Hezbollah has denied using public infrastructure as military installations.

As the war enters its second month, a sense of despair has settled over some Lebanese who fled their southern hometowns.

“Once they separate the Litani from Beirut, that’s it – how will the people go back to their homes?” said Samar Jawlani, a 50-year-old woman displaced from the historic southern port city of Tyre.

The south’s isolation began less than two weeks into the war, when Israel began striking bridges on the Litani River that it said were being used by Hezbollah to shuttle weapons to southern frontlines.

Since then, at least seven bridges in southern Lebanon have been destroyed or seriously damaged in Israeli strikes – six of which lie directly on the Litani.

The United Nations has said that the destruction of bridges has left tens of thousands of people isolated in southern Lebanon, out of reach for humanitarian convoys seeking to deliver essential aid.

Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters that international law prohibits strikes on infrastructure if the harm to civilians is excessive – even if the infrastructure was being used for military purposes. He warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if the south becomes fully isolated from the rest of Lebanon.

Diana Moukalled, a Lebanese journalist, said she used to cross the Qasmiyeh coastal road bridge to visit her village in southern Lebanon. It was hit twice by Israel on March 22.

“Bridges are not just cement and iron; they are the memory of a road and a silent link between us and the places we love,” Moukalled wrote on X.

“Bombing bridges doesn’t just cut off a road; it shatters that simple feeling that there is always a way back.”

As the war dragged on, healthcare and energy infrastructure began going offline.

In the south, four hospitals have sustained partial damage in the war, according to the World Health Organization. Two are entirely closed. An Israeli strike on a primary healthcare centre in the southern town of Borj Qalaouiya on March 13 killed 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

In total, Israeli strikes have killed more than 40 healthcare workers, many of them in southern Lebanon, the ministry said.

“Frontline responders, health workers, and civilian infrastructure including any healthcare centres are all protected by international humanitarian law,” said Imran Reza, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon. “We are seeing unacceptable loss.”

The war has put two key power stations in southern Lebanon out of commission – one of which was hit by an Israeli strike on March 19 and another which is unreachable due to Israeli ground operations in the area, according to Lebanon’s electricity authority. Two water stations in the south are also out of service, according to the South Lebanon Water Establishment – one damaged by an Israeli strike and another left unreachable due to Israeli ground operations.

While energy infrastructure may, in limited circumstances, be a legitimate military target, strikes can also violate international law in cases when they have an intended or foreseeably disproportionate impact on civilians, legal scholars have said.

In the current Middle East conflict, “there appears to be an open intent to target vital civilian supply facilities, and thereby severely damage or break national and international economic interests. In turn, this will have a consequential harmful impact on civilians. It is neither a direct, necessary, or proportionate military objective, and therefore illegitimate,” said international criminal prosecutor Nigel Povoas KC.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/graphics/IRAN-CRISIS/LEBANON-ISRAEL-INFRASTRUCTURE/gkvlklaxypb/

Demonstrators decrying U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts, war in Iran and other policies took to city streets across the country on Saturday in the third round of the “No Kings” rallies.
More than 3,200 events had been planned in ​all 50 states, after the two previous nationwide events attracted millions of participants.

Large rallies took place in New York, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington, but two-thirds of No Kings events were happening outside major cities, ‌a nearly 40% jump for smaller communities from the movement’s first mobilization last June, organizers said.

TRUMP POSES ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT,’ ACTOR DE NIRO SAYS

In Minnesota, a flashpoint in Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a massive rally was held outside the state capitol in Saint Paul. Many held aloft posters bearing photos of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this year.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, told the crowd that their resistance to Trump and his policies makes them “the heart and soul” of everything good about the U.S.
“They call ​us radicals,” Walz said. “You’re damn right we’ve been radicalized – radicalized by compassion, radicalized by decency, radicalized by due process, radicalized by democracy, and radicalized to do all we can to oppose authoritarianism.”

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a ​Trump critic who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, also addressed the event in Minnesota. Musician Bruce Springsteen performed his song “Streets of Minneapolis” – a ballad criticizing Trump’s ⁠immigration crackdown and lamenting the deaths of Good and Pretti.
“We will not allow this country to descend into authoritarianism or oligarchy in America,” said Sanders, an independent. “We, the people, will rule.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee criticized Democratic politicians and candidates for supporting ​the rallies.
“These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone and House Democrats get their marching orders,” committee spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement.

In New York, a crowd that police estimated at tens of thousands stretched ​more than 10 blocks in midtown Manhattan. Actor Robert De Niro, one of the organizers, said that no president before Trump has posed “such an existential threat to our freedoms and security.”
Holly Bemiss, 54, said she and other New York rally attendees were acting in the same spirit as her ancestors who fought in the American Revolution.
“We fought against having kings and we fought for freedom,” she said. “We’re just doing it again.”
On the National Mall in Washington, the crowd chanted pro-democracy slogans and held anti-Trump signs. Outside a high-rise assisted-living center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, a group ​of elderly people in wheelchairs held signs encouraging passing cars to “Resist tyranny,” “Honk if you want democracy” and “Dump Trump.”

Thousands attended a Dallas event that had clashes between No Kings demonstrators and counterprotest groups, including one led by Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of ​the far-right organization the Proud Boys.
Minor scuffles erupted when counterprotesters blocked streets. Dallas police eventually made several arrests.
Trump’s policies have galvanized the opposition, Dallas protester Chris Brendel said.
“One thing I’ll give Trump credit for is mobilizing the dissenters,” Brendel said. “I can’t stand by and be silent ‌anymore simply because ⁠of my boys and their friends and the future.”

MARCHING AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

In Los Angeles retired Burbank, California, resident Theresa Gunnell said she took part because it’s “important for everybody to make a stand against authoritarianism, fascism, and greed.”
“All Trump is doing is making himself wealthy while taking away from regular Americans,” she said.
Two people were arrested for assaulting federal law enforcement as 1,000 “rioters” surrounded a federal building, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday.
It said two officers had been hit with the cement blocks and were receiving medical care in the incident at the Roybal Federal Building.
Multiple demonstrators were arrested for not dispersing from an area near a federal prison, the Los Angeles Police Department posted on social media. Federal authorities had deployed tear gas canisters at a ​crowd after some people threw objects over a fence, police ​said.
Heading toward November’s midterm elections, which will determine the makeup ⁠of the U.S. Congress, rally organizers say they have seen a surge in the number of people organizing anti-Trump events and registering to participate in deeply Republican states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah.
Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 36%, its lowest since his return to the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Competitive suburban areas that have helped decide national elections are seeing “huge” ​increases in interest, said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, the group that started the No Kings movement last year and led planning of Saturday’s events. She cited examples in Pennsylvania’s ​Bucks and Delaware counties, East Cobb ⁠and Forsyth in Georgia, and Scottsdale and Chandler in Arizona.
The first No Kings event, on Trump’s birthday, June 14, last year, drew an estimated 4 million to 6 million people across roughly 2,100 sites nationwide. The second mobilization in October involved an estimated 7 million participants in more than 2,700 cities, according to a crowdsourcing analysis published by prominent data journalist G. Elliott Morris.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rallies-planned-thousands-us-cities-no-kings-protest-against-trump-2026-03-28/

A US-based modelling agent introduced women as young as 18 to Jeffrey Epstein and pleaded with him to have sex with a model he knew, according to emails.

Ramsey Elkholy sent the financier hundreds of emails over almost a decade, discussing the women’s bodies and their attitudes to sex, and suggested he and Epstein could meet more women by investing in fashion and modelling businesses in Brazil.

In one 2011 exchange, Elkholy described a woman in her 20s who was “desperate for cash” and said: “Dear Jeffrey PLEASE just try her in bed.”

Elkholy told the BBC he regretted the language in some emails and his association with Epstein, and that he had not been aware the financier had been abusing women.

Elkholy now describes himself as an anthropologist and musician, founder of the band Monotronic, but in the 2010s he was working as a model agent.

The files recently released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) suggest he conducted a correspondence with Epstein from at least 2009 until shortly before the financier’s death in 2019, much of which revolved around access to female models.

The emails shed further light on how Epstein cultivated extensive contacts in the international modelling industry, some of which he then used to access women and girls. Models were among those Epstein abused, which the FBI has estimated may total 1,000 women and girls.

In the messages, Elkholy appeared to discuss setting up meetings for models with Epstein’s contacts in the fashion industry, including at lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret – then owned by Epstein’s biggest client, Les Wexner – and the Vera Wang label.

The files also suggest Elkholy was in touch with the French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a contact of Epstein’s accused by Brazilian women who spoke to the BBC of recruiting girls for Epstein to sexually exploit.

Brunel was found dead in his Paris prison cell in 2022, while being investigated on suspicion of the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.

‘You’re a solid person Jeffrey’

Elkholy told the BBC he had not been part of Epstein’s inner circle. A search for his surname on the DOJ website returns over 2,000 results, though many of those are duplicates, and Elkholy said the files show he only met Epstein 10-12 times over a 10-year period.

The agent wrote an email to Epstein in 2009, a few months after the financier had been released from jail on a charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor, saying: “I don’t need to tell you that I also value your friendship. The reason I never ask for anything in return for introducing you to models is because I consider it more of a favor and I know that you are also good for favors.”

He added: “You’re a solid person Jeffrey and that means the world to me.”

Two days after the agent had told Epstein about the woman who was “desperate for cash”, Elkholy said he hoped the financier was “getting some mileage” out of the woman’s situation “being all alone” in New York.

Epstein replied with a single word – “zero” – and a few days later Elkholy wrote again: “Jeffrey PLEASE just try her in bed… I really need that so I can feel whole about all this because she’s such a pain in the ass. I also think it would be good to get her to know what it is like to get really [expletive].”

Elkholy claims he sent the email with the woman’s permission.

As Israeli and US strikes continue to hit Tehran and the regime has imposed an internet blackout, locals say that the uncertainty about the whereabouts of their relatives and what is happening is almost ‘unbearable.’

On Thursday evening, the Iranian capital Tehran came under a fierce wave of attacks. Residents reported low-flying fighter jets over the city and massive explosions. Early on Friday morning, the Israeli military said that it had completed a wide-scale wave of strikes on the “heart of Tehran” and had targeted “infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime.”

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had once again postponed his threats to attack Iran’s energy facilities if Tehran refused to lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The US has deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East. A ground invasion of Iran has not been ruled out.

Iranians have no faith in state media

On Thursday, Iran had claimed that it had launched missile and drone attacks on targets in Israel as well as US bases in several Gulf states. Iranian state television reported that the country was on the verge of defeating its enemies and ending the war.

“We don’t watch state television anymore, and I hardly know anyone who still does,” wrote one resident of Tehran in a group chat. “They only broadcast for themselves and their supporters,” wrote another.

Iran’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), has long lost its influence over public opinion in the country. According to a survey by the Iranian Students Polling Agency in Tehran, even before the Twelve-Day War between Iran and Israel of June 2025, only 12.5% of people relied on IRIB for their news, compared to 51% in 2017.

Despite a budget increase of about 50% in March 2025, the public broadcaster has not been able to regain the trust it has lost.

Internet blocked, Starlink banned

Many Iranians get their news from Persian-language media outlets abroad, from other state broadcasters such as DW, or through social media, particularly Instagram, which has some 24 million users in Iran. Although such platforms are officially banned, many people use virtual private network (VPN) services to access them. A VPN establishes an encrypted data tunnel between a device and a remote server, from which users can connect to the internet.

Since the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28, the Iranian authorities have once again shut down the internet. Even VPN connections can only function with the help of satellite internet providers such as Starlink, which is also banned in Iran. Moreover, they are often very expensive to use and can cost up to 10 times the regular price. According to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, hundreds of Starlink systems have been tracked and confiscated across the country.

Internet expert Keyvan Samadi told DW how the security authorities were able to track the systems. He said that Starlink devices transmitted signals in order to connect with satellites. Specialized equipment could detect the signals and radio could be used to locate them approximately. According to media reports, hundreds of people have been arrested that way since the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran.

It is hard to tell how many banned systems are still in use in Iran. People still in the country told DW that VPN services remained available but at very high prices. Though many people faced financial difficulties because of the ongoing war and closed businesses, many were willing to spend more money to have access to information.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iranians-suffer-from-internet-blackout-as-well-as-us-israeli-strikes/a-76571737

THE heartbreaking last words of the paralysed gang-rape victim Noelia Castillo Ramos who died by euthanasia have been revealed.

Noelia is understood to have passed away around 20 minutes after receiving three injections at a hospital near Barcelona on Thursday.

The 25-year-old’s tragic last words reiterated her wish to die, according to Spanish outlet antenna 3.

She reportedly said: “I want to go now in peace and stop suffering.”

The happiness of a father or mother cannot be more important than that of a daughter, she added.

She also asked to go through her final moments alone.

“I don’t want them to see me closing my eyes ,” she said.

Noelia‘s death follows a lengthy legal process marked by her father’s opposition that has drawn international attention.

Her mum, Yolanda Ramos, spent her final night by her side, despite desperately hoping her daughter would change her mind.

“I’ve been praying and thinking… hoping that at the last moment she’ll say ‘I regret it’,” she said.

Her dad, Geronimo Castillo, was among other relatives, including her siblings and maternal grandmother, who arrived at the hospital to spend time with her.

Her family had earlier been granted extra time with her before the procedure began at around 6.30pm.

Noelia‘s best friend Carla Rodriguez was filmed weeping outside the clinic after being denied one last chance to try and change her mind.

The young woman had been left paralysed from the waist down after a suicide attempt in 2022.

She had jumped from a fifth-floor window after being raped by three men while in a state-supervised care facility.

Since then, she lived with constant pain which she said had become unbearable.

“I want to go now and stop suffering, period,” Noelia previously said in an interview.

“I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult, and I have back and leg pain.”

She also spoke about how she wanted to spend her final moments.

“I’ve always thought I want to die looking good. I’ll wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it will be something simple.”

Spain legalised euthanasia in 2021 for people suffering “chronic or invalidating” conditions.

Noelia had fought for years to be allowed to die by euthanasia, in the face of numerous obstacles.

Her father, Geronimo Castillo, had tried to block the procedure with the backing of a conservative legal group.

But courts rejected the challenge.

Noelia’s case was eventually approved after a long legal fight, with judges ruling her decision was “free, conscious and informed”.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16146666/paralysed-gang-rape-victim-noelia-last-words-euthanasia/

More young adults in Singapore are experiencing strokes, and their recovery journeys are often challenging especially coupled with the pressure of getting back to work quickly or returning to a lifestyle they once enjoyed.

For most adults, their 30s are a time to think about starting a family, ticking off more places on their travel list, and maybe moving into a new home.

But over the past decade, for some Singaporeans, those aspirations have been derailed after they experienced a stroke, which occurs when blood flow to the brain is cut off, depriving brain cells of oxygen and causing them to die within minutes.

This could potentially lead to lasting disability or even death.

While older adults still make up the majority of stroke patients, doctors are seeing a concerning uptick among those in their 30s and 40s.

According to the Singapore Stroke Registry Annual Report 2022, published in 2025, for those aged 40 to 49, the incidence of stroke climbed about 20 per cent over a decade, from 82.3 per 100,000 people in 2012 to 99.1 in 2022.

Even in the 30 to 39 age group, incidence rose from 20.2 to 25.3 per 100,000 in the same period – an increase of about 25 per cent.

While the rise in stroke cases among younger adults is in part due to greater awareness and faster diagnosis, much of it is due to a “genuine increase” in risk factors, said Dr Benjamin Tan, a consultant in the division of neurology at the National University Hospital (NUH).

These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking – all of which can damage blood vessels over time and lead to clogged or weakened arteries.

Doctors said lifestyle habits are also driving these conditions at younger ages. Chronic stress, long working hours, poor sleep, heavy alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and diets high in processed foods all play a role.

But these factors do not fully explain the trend. “Very often, stroke in a younger patient is due to a combination of lifestyle risk factors and an underlying medical condition,” said Dr Rohit Khurana, a consultant cardiologist at The Harley Street Heart and Vascular Centre.

These may include congenital heart issues, blood-clotting disorders and autoimmune diseases, which may go undetected until a stroke occurs.

Dr Tan added that strokes in adults aged 30 to 49 are generally more common in men, who tend to develop vascular risk factors earlier.

“Women have some hormonal protection before menopause, but their risk can rise slightly during periods such as pregnancy, the postpartum phase or with oral contraceptive use. Overall, the risk remains low for most healthy women.”

Doctors and occupational therapists told CNA TODAY that strokes in this age group are particularly challenging because they severely disrupt the lives of people who are in the thick of their working years and may be raising children or supporting ageing parents, as well as managing financial responsibilities.

And while younger patients may have greater potential for physical recovery, they also tend to place higher expectations on themselves to return quickly to their previous lives, which may not always be realistic.

Ms Magdalene Chia, a stroke case manager at NUH, said expectations at work and the pressure to remain breadwinners can push younger patients to try to recover quickly, amid fears of job loss if they do not return soon.

While this may motivate them to work harder in their recovery, Ms Sophia Chan, a senior occupational therapist at Stroke Support Station (S3), cautioned that this tension can lead to overexertion, feeling discouraged and difficulty sustaining a return to work.

Rehabilitation, she said, should go beyond physical impairment to include how best to resume job roles, how to ease back into their social lives and family responsibilities.

Even after physical recovery, patients may struggle with “invisible” effects such as memory lapses, fatigue, and slower processing speed, which can affect their ability to cope at work.

These “invisible” cognitive and emotional challenges can affect stroke patients across age groups, but for younger survivors, they are often felt most acutely at work and in managing complex daily responsibilities, said Ms Chen Zhenzhen, senior principal occupational therapist at NUH.

CNA TODAY spoke to three survivors who each suffered a stroke in their 30s to learn about the challenges they faced in rebuilding their lives and forming a new personal identity in the aftermath.

WHEN HIS DREAM LIFE UNRAVELLED

Before his stroke at 36, Mr Ian Tang was “living the dream” in Taiwan, where he was working as a community manager for Blizzard Entertainment, a renowned video game company.

He thoroughly enjoyed his work and his career was on an upward trajectory at the company, whose video games he played as a child.

Life outside work was falling into place, too. Mr Tang, now 44, married his long-time partner in 2017, when he was 35, and the couple were keen to start a family.

Then, one morning in November 2018, while he was messaging friends, something “felt off”. As he sat on a chair on his balcony, his mobile phone kept slipping out of his left hand and he struggled to pick it up. Moments later, he lost his balance and collapsed.

“Normally, if you fall, your body reacts to stop yourself, right? But there was almost no defensive reaction. I couldn’t control my body,” he said.

“I just knew I was falling forward onto the floor and wondering how I ended up there.”

Alone in the apartment as his wife had left for work, he mustered all his strength and crawled to the toilet, where he ended up lying for hours before blacking out.

His wife found him, some eight hours post-stroke, when she returned home from work. He tried to tell her he was having a stroke and asked her to call for help, but his garbled words came out as gibberish.

He later lost consciousness and regained it only days later in hospital, where he learned he had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, which is a bleed in the brain caused by weakened blood vessels. He was unable to move, but he could still communicate.

In the months that followed, the life he built began to unravel. Mr Tang spent several months in the hospital undergoing intensive rehabilitation and lost his job while still recovering.

“I thought I could go back to work. Then, the HR staff came to the hospital to tell me I had been retrenched.”

With no job and no work visa, the couple returned to Singapore in 2019, moved in with his in-laws and continued his rehabilitation at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

By then, he had regained some independence. He could walk, albeit slowly with a walking aid, talk and manage basic daily activities with minimal assistance.

In the last six years, his mobility has improved, but his left hand remains weak to this day.

Given his marketing and communications background, Mr Tang thought his roles in the industry would be manageable physically, so he began attending job interviews once he felt ready soon after returning to Singapore.

He eventually found a role at a local advertising agency in early 2020 – about 14 months after his stroke – but it was short-lived. Days later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he was retrenched again.

Even during his short stint at the advertising agency, he found that returning to work was far more difficult than he expected, even though his role was mainly desk-bound.

“It was very naive of me to think that returning to work was just about being able to do the work. There is the whole ‘ecosystem’ too, like how to eat lunch and how to get to work.”

The setbacks took an emotional toll. He became unusually angry, snapping at strangers over small things, and did not understand why. Only after speaking to a counsellor did he realise he was grieving.

“I was grieving who I used to be, because that person is dead and gone, along with what I had and who I could have been.”

Recovery, he learnt, was not linear. Progress slowed after the first six months, and some abilities, such as the use of his left hand, did not return.

Besides physical rehabilitation, he joined stroke survivor support groups where he noticed a gap in the kind of support for younger survivors, who often have to tackle issues such as going back to work and navigating intimacy on their own.

Mr Tang eventually found his footing in the social service sector before moving to his current role as a specialist at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), supporting creative freelancers.

The Tangs also had to put aside dreams they once thought were a given, like starting a family.

After the stroke, life wasn’t about big plans anymore. It was about getting by day to day, figuring out how to go back to work, and juggling life together, so naturally, decisions about the future just took a back seat, he said.

“Life still goes on. Instead of focusing on what I lost, I told myself to look at what I have gained: a second chance at life, a chance to see my nephews and niece grow up, and to adopt Bruce, our darling dachshund.”

A KEEN FOOTBALLER WHO NOW WATCHES FROM THE SIDELINES

Mr Muhammad Rafi Sawal was always on the go – travelling between work sites, working outdoors in the sun and rain, and spending weekends with his wife and four young daughters, aged between six and 12.

The 42-year-old technician has also been active from a young age, taking part in sports such as cycling, football and jogging.

Then, in October 2023, when he was 39, everything changed. He returned home late and was getting ready for bed when he noticed his left hand and leg feeling “like jelly”.

He showed his wife his awkward gait. She immediately sensed something was off and told him to call an ambulance. While they were waiting for it to arrive, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up in hospital, he did not recognise anyone at first – not even his wife of 13 years.

Doctors diagnosed a basal ganglia haemorrhage – a type of stroke caused by bleeding deep within the brain. Because of his age, they opted to monitor him rather than operate. Gradually, his memory returned – first his wife, then his parents, then his children.

But physically, he had lost almost all function on the non-dominant left side of his body.

After four weeks in the hospital and further rehabilitation, he was discharged. And that was when the reality of his condition set in.

“Recovery made me feel like a completely different person. Before, I could run, jump, and squat. After discharge, the left side of my body couldn’t move properly.”

“I felt very disheartened. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me. My morale was very low. At one point, I felt like there was no point in living,” Mr Rafi admitted.

“But what kept me going was my family. My wife, siblings and daughters became my pillars. They gave me motivation and emotional support.”

Still, there were moments that stung.

Friends he used to play football with would invite him to join them for a game but he had to turn them down because he could not run yet.

Recovery was slow but steady. At first, Mr Rafi could take only a few steps with crutches and otherwise relied on a wheelchair. Within three months, he no longer needed the wheelchair. Another three months later, he could let go of the crutches, and after another two months, he stopped using a walking stick altogether.

Today, he appears outwardly well but still goes to therapy at Stroke Support Station (S3) in Jurong Point shopping centre, with some “invisible challenges” remaining.

Mr Rafi still feels some numbness, heaviness and suffers from coordination issues on his left side.

“Sometimes people assume I’m fully recovered. But I still cannot carry heavy loads, bend down easily, run or jump properly. Cognitively, I’m mostly okay, though occasionally I may stammer.”

Given his previous role involved physical tasks, his return to work about a year after his stroke involved a change in job scope.

He now does more supervisory duties and is grateful for his boss who helped him with the transition back to work. His doctors have also told him that he will eventually be able to get back to playing football.

Despite everything, Mr Rafi does not see himself as “limited”. He continues to volunteer at the Jurong Spring Community Club, helping low-income residents with their grocery needs, a place he helped out at even before his stroke.

“I don’t want people to say: ‘You had a stroke, so you’re excused.’ If I can do it, I will do it,” he said.

“I THOUGHT I WAS PERFECTLY FINE”

At 32, Mr Nur Azhar Hanafiah thought he was doing everything right.

The paramedic exercised regularly, watched his diet and had regular medical screenings, which never revealed any health issues.

“I had no symptoms. I thought I was perfectly fine,” said Mr Azhar, who is single and lives with his 65-year-old father and 102-year-old grandmother.

Then, last June while he was on the night shift and helping an accident victim with minor injuries, he suddenly became a patient who needed attending to.

He felt weakness on the right side of his body. His leg gave way first, followed by his arm. Within seconds, he felt giddy and developed a severe headache, while his speech became slurred – typical for stroke victims.

As a trained medical professional, he knew instantly that something wasn’t right and that he was having a stroke.

He handed over the case to his colleagues as his symptoms worsened. Although they briefly subsided, within minutes, he was in a debilitated state.

Given the start-stop nature of his symptoms, he thought he was suffering from a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), often described as a “mini stroke”, which is less serious than a full-blown episode.

He quickly called the operations centre to dispatch another ambulance for the patient and one for himself, so they could both be taken to NUH.

There the doctor later confirmed that he had indeed suffered a stroke and not a TIA. He was also told he had high blood pressure and high cholesterol – the first time he had heard it, despite going for annual medical check-ups.

“I couldn’t accept it at first. I was only 32 at the time. I kept asking myself, why did I get a stroke?”

The shock quickly gave way to worry because he wondered whether he would be able to work again.

“I kept thinking about my income and what would happen to my family if I couldn’t return to work. If my condition didn’t improve, what could I do next?”

Mr Azhar was hospitalised for about three weeks. When he was discharged, his dominant right side was still affected. He struggled to walk independently, and even simple tasks such as brushing his teeth became difficult.

But the physical challenges were only part of it. Most frustrating, he soon realised, was his cognitive ability. Just the simple act of talking and engaging in conversations would leave him feeling very tired.

He experienced what doctors describe as “brain fatigue” – a deep exhaustion that made conversation and concentration difficult. At times, he would sit quietly “in a daze”, trying to recover.

“The depression came when I realised recovery wasn’t going to be one month,” he said.

“During recovery, I felt quite lonely. The person who supported me the most was my helper. She followed me for my exercises at home and kept me company. Sometimes we would have heart-to-heart conversations.”

Caregiving pressures added to the strain.

His father struggled to accept that he had had a stroke, even as Mr Azhar was recovering, and expected Mr Azhar to carry on as usual, including sending him to appointments and tending to his day-to-day ailments.

At the same time, he was preparing to start a part-time degree programme in paramedic science, just about a month after his stroke.

But coping with school during his recovery was overwhelming. Mr Azhar said that simple things like holding conversations with his classmates left him exhausted, let alone trying to keep up with lessons.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/ground-up/young-stroke-survivors-grief-challenges-6018006

Another senior US official told Axios that, in their view, Vance remained the most viable path to a negotiated end to the war. “If the Iranians can’t strike a deal with Vance, they don’t get a deal. He’s the best they’re gonna get,” the official said.

US Vice President JD Vance had a tense phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, during which he told the premier off for what he viewed as overly rosy assumptions about the war in Iran, Axios reported.

According to the outlet, Vance pressed Netanyahu on his confidence regarding the likelihood of regime change. One US official told Axios that “Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was. And the VP was clear-eyed about some of those statements”, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

After the call, a US official claimed Israel was actively undermining Vance, who has emerged as a central figure in ceasefire talks with the Islamic Republic. A long-time critic of open-ended foreign interventions, Vance is participating in negotiations alongside US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The same official alleged that Israel was responsible for reports suggesting Iran preferred negotiating with Vance because he might be more receptive to a deal to end the conflict. “It’s an Israeli op against JD,” the official told Axios.

Another senior US official told Axios that, in their view, Vance remained the most viable path to a negotiated end to the war. “If the Iranians can’t strike a deal with Vance, they don’t get a deal. He’s the best they’re gonna get,” the official said.

Vance Treads Iran Tightrope

For a man with his eye on the White House in 2028, US Vice President JD Vance has kept a low profile since the start of the Iran war.

The former US marine, who served in Iraq, built a political brand as a non-interventionist who wanted to keep America out of any more long, foreign wars.

Even US President Donald Trump admitted they had their differences on “Operation Epic Fury.”

“He was, I would say, philosophically a little bit different than me,” Trump said on Monday of Vance. “I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going — but he was quite enthusiastic.”

While he has publicly backed Trump’s Iran operation, Vance has only given one television interview since it started, in which he stressed it would not be another American “forever war.”

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-war-news-jd-vance-benjamin-netanyahu-share-tense-call-over-israel-overconfidence-on-irans-regime-change-11276479?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Along with KP Sharma Oli, his former Home Minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested over the alleged involvement in last year’s deadly Gen Z protests.

Former Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been arrested over his alleged involvement in last year’s deadly Gen Z protests – a day after Balendra Shah took oath as the new premier. Oli was taken into custody from his residence in Gundu, Bhaktapur, by the Nepal police.

Along with Oli, his former Home Minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.

“They were arrested this morning, and the process will move forward according to the law,” Kathmandu Valley police spokesman Om Adhikari said as quoted by AFP.

Minutes after Oli’s arrest, the newly-appointed Minister of Home Affairs, Sudan Gurung, said a “promise is a promise” and that “no one is above the law”.

“We have taken former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and outgoing Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak under control. This is not revenge against anyone; it is just the beginning of justice. I believe that now the country will take a new direction,” he wrote in a post on X.

Will Fight Legal Battle: KP Sharma Oli on Arrest

Oli, however, said that he has been arrested “vindictively”.

“I will fight the legal battle,” he told the media.

Over 70, including at least 19 young people, were killed in the anti-corruption youth uprising on September 8 and 9 last year, which began over a brief social media ban, but tapped into longstanding fury over economic hardship. The unrest spread nationwide the following day as parliament and government offices were set ablaze, resulting in the KP Oli government’s collapse.

Nepal’s first female chief justice, Sushila Karki, had then led the Nepal interim government for a brief period of time before Balen Shah was elected. She had come out of retirement to assume the interim leadership, and her tenure is widely viewed as a stabilising phase in Nepal’s fragile democratic journey.

Shortly after rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah won the recently held Nepal parliamentary elections, a panel was formed to investigate the violence during the anti-corruption protests. The first Cabinet meeting of the newly-formed government in Nepal, chaired by Balendra Shah on Friday, had decided to immediately implement the report of the high-level commission’s investigation – which had recommended a maximum of 10 years imprisonment for those responsible, including Oli and Lekhak, for negligence during the uprising, despite being in high positions.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ex-nepal-pm-kp-sharma-oli-ex-home-minister-ramesh-lekhak-arrested-over-last-years-protest-a-day-after-balen-shah-took-oath-11277036?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Houthi rebels in Yemen warned they are ready to enter the war if escalation continues, setting the Red Sea as a key red line. Their involvement could disrupt global shipping routes, especially alongside rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

As fears of a wider regional conflict escalate following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began in late February, Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected mediator, offering to help bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table.

Islamabad isn’t often called on to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but it’s stepped into the role this time for a number of reasons, both because it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and because it has a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved.

Pakistani government officials have said that their public peace effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy, though they have provided few details. They have also said that Islamabad stands ready to host talks between representatives from the U.S. and Iran.

Here’s what to know about Pakistan’s mediation effort:

Pakistan helped US deliver 15-point plan to Iran

Pakistan’s role in Iran-U.S. negotiations surfaced only days ago following media reports. Officials in Islamabad later acknowledged that a U.S. proposal had been conveyed to Iran.

It remains unclear who has served as Iran’s point of contact in the indirect talks. Iran has maintained it has not held such talks and dismissed the U.S. proposal, but Tehran has acknowledged responding with its own proposals.

According to Pakistani officials, U.S. messages are being passed to Iran and Iranian responses relayed to Washington, though they did not specify how the process is being handled or who is directly communicating with whom. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said this week that Turkey and Egypt are also working behind the scenes to bring the sides to the negotiating table.

Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said that Pakistani’s mediation efforts may be contributing to relative restraint in the conflict. He noted that U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed his threats of large-scale attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure citing diplomatic progress, and Iranian responses toward U.S. interests in the Gulf have been measured in what may be an effort to preserve space for diplomacy.

Ties with both US and Iran set Pakistan up for new role

Previous US-Iran negotiations have been facilitated mainly by countries in the Middle East, including Oman and Qatar, but as they come under Iranian fire during the war Pakistan has stepped into the role.

Analysts say Pakistan’s geographic proximity to Iran — it’s one of its neighbors — coupled with its longstanding ties with the U.S., gives it a unique position at a time when direct communication between the two sides remains constrained.

Islamabad has good working relations with most of the key parties in the war, including both the U.S. and Iran. It has close strategic ties with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, with which it signed a defense cooperation agreement last year. However, Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel because of the lingering issue of Palestinian statehood.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have improved since last year, with increased diplomatic engagement and expanding economic ties. Pakistan also joined Trump’s Board of Peace, which aims to ensure peace in Gaza, despite opposition from Islamists at home.

Over the weekend, Trump spoke to the Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, whom the U.S. president has publicly described as his “favorite Field Marshal.” Analysts say he’s a player who enjoys good ties with both the Iranian and U.S. militaries.

Pakistan has a lot at stake in ceasefire talks

The conflict poses some of “the biggest economic and energy security challenges” in Pakistan’s history, said Islamabad-based security analyst Syed Mohammad Ali.

The country gets most of its oil and gas from the Middle East — and, he said, the five million Pakistanis working in the Arab world send home remittances each year roughly equal to the country’s total export earnings.

Rising tensions have already contributed to higher global oil prices, forcing Pakistan to increase fuel prices by about 20% and putting pressure on the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The war is also adding to domestic turmoil, even as Pakistan has been grappling for months with its own conflict with neighboring Afghanistan. Islamabad has accused the country’s Taliban government of tolerating militant groups that are behind attacks in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, protests erupted across the country following U.S. strikes on Iran, with demonstrators clashing with security forces in several cities.

A day after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, clashes erupted in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi and in parts of the north, leaving at least 22 people dead and more than 120 injured nationwide.

At least 12 people were killed in and around the U.S. Consulate in Karachi after a mob breached the compound and attempted to set it on fire.

Khamenei was a central religious and political figure for Shiites worldwide, including in Pakistan.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-us-iran-war-emerging-peace-mediator-f4e809dd3f93b3d67b54f9d75d33d55c

A suburban Detroit school district has agreed to give First Amendment training to staff to settle a lawsuit by a teenager who said a teacher humiliated her for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in protest of U.S. support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The agreement with Danielle Khalaf and her father also includes a $10,000 payment by an insurance company on behalf of the teacher, according to a court filing.

The Plymouth-Canton district did not admit liability. But Superintendent Monica Merritt praised Danielle for “showing courage and speaking up about the incident.”

“Our mission is to foster a school environment that is safe, respectful and welcoming for all,” Merritt said Friday.

Danielle, whose family is of Palestinian descent, declined to recite the pledge at her school over three days in January 2025. The lawsuit says her teacher admonished her and told her she was being disrespectful.

“Since you live in this country and enjoy its freedom, if you don’t like it, you should go back to your country,” the teacher said, according to the lawsuit.

Danielle suffered emotional injuries, including nightmares and strained friendships, the lawsuit said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/michigan-teen-school-pledge-palestinians-50dd112d76ab03865a34b2a8139ea573

Indonesia on Saturday began implementing a new government regulation approved earlier this month that bans children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.

With the move, Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. It follows measures that Australia took last year in a world-first social media ban for children as part of a push for families to take back power from tech giants and protect their teens.

Indonesia has said that the implementation of the restrictions would be carried out gradually, until all platforms comply with the measure.

“The government has instructed all digital platforms operating in Indonesia to immediately bring their products, features and services into compliance with applicable regulations. There will be no compromise on compliance, and every business entity operating in Indonesia is required to comply with Indonesian law,” Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said on Friday evening.

In announcing the new regulation earlier in March, she said that this regulation would apply to around 70 million children in Indonesia — a country with a population of about 280 million.

Not an easy task

Hafid said high-risk digital platforms are identified by factors such as how easy it is for children to become exposed to strangers, potential predators and harmful content in general, as well as the levels of risk of exploitation and data security scams.

But she acknowledged that implementing the new regulation — even gradually as planned — will be difficult. Getting digital platforms to comply and then making them report deactivations of under-16 accounts is difficult.

“This is certainly a task. But we must take steps to save our children,” Hafid said. “It’s not easy. Nevertheless, we must see it through.”

Maura Munthe, a 13-year-old who spends roughly four hours a day on her phone on social media, including playing games on Roblox with her friends, said she feels “kind of 50-50” about the new government policy but mostly agrees with it.

Her peers in school, she says, worry they will miss out on all the fun and entertainment they now have access to.

“There are always other games on my phone, not only the online ones,” she said. “I will likely play more games alone or just hang out with my friends.”

Munthe’s mother, Leni Sinuraya, 47, said she has for years trusted her daughter to use her phone wisely, both when studying and when playing online games. Still, she sees the government’s move as good for all children in Indonesia.

Parents, she says, have lost control — and social media platforms have taken over.

“Nowadays, when we see kids sitting in a restaurant, they have a phone right in front of them. It’s clear that they’re addicted,” Sinuraya said. “They won’t eat unless they’re given a phone, and they throw a tantrum if they aren’t.”

“Mealtime is supposed to be a time for us to chat with the people around us,” she added.

Protecting the children

Based in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, Diena Haryana founded Semai Jiwa Amini foundation — also known as SEJIWA, a nonprofit that works on online child safety and protection.

According to Haryana, studies have shown that children’s use of social media can impact their mental health and trigger anxiety and depression.

But, she says, digital platforms also offer advantages and open up a whole realm of learning. Her foundation has tried to get parents and communities to work together on providing guidance and supervision for children in the online world.

“We also need to remember that they need to learn to use this digital technology at the right time, at the right age, and with the right guidance as well,” she said.

Haryana said the effects of restricting access to social media and digital platforms to children under 16 will only be seen once the measure is in place — she predicted both complaints from children and confusion among parents.

Parents and schools are expected to provide children with solutions on how to learn in the real world — not the digital one, she said.

“Of course, this takes time to get used to, which is why parents and schools need to encourage children to engage with the real world and make it fun for them,” Haryana added. “And there’s plenty in the real world for children to explore.”

So far, few platforms have reacted to Indonesia’s new regulation.

Elon Musk’s X on its Indonesia Online Safety Information page gives 16 as the minimum age required for users in the country. “It’s not our choice – it’s what Indonesian law requires,” the page says.

Google-owned YouTube said it supports the Indonesian government’s effort to create an effective, risk-based framework that addresses online harms while preserving access to information and digital opportunity.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-social-media-children-under-16-761b3ae00231ea0b176f93813c0a35eb

The United States can only determine with certainty that it has destroyed about a third of Iran’s vast missile arsenal as the U.S. and Israeli war on the country ​nears its one-month mark, according to five people familiar with the U.S. intelligence.
The status of around another third is less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and ‌bunkers, four of the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the information.

One of the sources said the intelligence was similar for Iran’s drone capability, saying there was some degree of certainty about a third having been destroyed.
The assessment, which has not been previously reported, shows that while most of Iran’s missiles are either destroyed or inaccessible, Tehran still has a significant missile inventory and may be able to recover some buried or damaged missiles once fighting stops.
The intelligence stands in contrast to President Donald Trump’s public remarks on Thursday that Iran ​had “very few rockets left”. He also appeared to acknowledge the threat from remaining Iranian missiles and drones to any future U.S. operations to safeguard the economically vital Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters first reported that he is weighing whether to escalate ​the conflict by deploying U.S. troops to Iranian shores along the Strait.
“The problem with the straits is this: let’s say we do a great job. We say we got 99% (of their ⁠missiles). 1% is unacceptable, because 1% is a missile going into the hull of a ship that cost a billion dollars,” Trump said at a televised Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Asked for comment, a Pentagon official said Iranian missile and drone attacks were ​down by about 90% since the start of the war. The U.S. military’s Central Command “has also damaged or destroyed over 66% of Iranian missile, drone, and naval production facilities and shipyards,” the official added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment.
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran who served four tours in Iraq, declined to comment on Reuters’ findings but he disputed Trump’s claims about the impact of the war on Iran’s arsenal.

“If Iran is smart they’ve retained some of their capability – they’re not using everything that they have. And they’re laying in wait,” Moulton said.

IRAN’S MISSILES ARE PRIME U.S. TARGET

The Trump administration has said it aims to weaken Iran’s military by sinking its navy, destroying its missile and drone capability and ensuring that the Islamic Republic never has a nuclear weapon.
Central Command has ​said its operation, known officially as “Epic Fury”, is on schedule or even ahead of plans laid out prior to the February 28 start of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
U.S. strikes have hit more than 10,000 Iranian military targets as of ​Wednesday and, according to Central Command, have sunk 92 percent of the Iranian navy’s large vessels. The U.S. military has published imagery showing attacks on the factories that produce Iran’s weaponry and has stressed that it is not just pursuing missile and drone stockpiles, but ‌the industry that ⁠makes them.

Still, Central Command has declined to state precisely how much of Iran’s missile or drone capability has been destroyed.
One source said part of the problem is determining how many Iranian missiles were stockpiled in underground bunkers before the war started. The U.S. has not disclosed its estimate of the size of Iran’s pre-war missile stockpile.
Israeli military officials say Iran had 2,500 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel before the war. Over 335 missile launchers have been “neutralized”, representing 70% of Iran’s launch capacity, a senior Israeli military official said.
Israeli officials have not publicly disclosed how many actual missiles they believe Iran still possesses. They privately acknowledge that eliminating what they estimate to be the last 30% of Iran’s capacity will be relatively more difficult to achieve.

IRAN STILL ​FIRING AT NEIGHBORS

Despite the heavy pace of U.S. strikes, Iran ​has demonstrated that it has not run out of weapons.
On ⁠Thursday alone, it fired 15 ballistic missiles at the United Arab Emirates, along with 11 drones, according to the UAE’s Defense Ministry.
It has also displayed new capabilities. Last week Iranian forces for the first time fired long-range missiles, targeting the U.S.-UK military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Nicole Grajewski, an expert on Iran’s missile forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at ​Paris’ Sciences Po university, said the Trump administration may have overstated how much U.S. strikes have degraded Iranian capabilities.
She pointed to Iran being able to continue to carry out strikes ​from Bid Kaneh military facility, which ⁠has been heavily bombed.
“The fact that they’ve managed to sustain this, I think, indicates the U.S. was overstating the success of its operation,” Grajewski said, adding she believed that Iran still retained about 30 percent of its missile capabilities.
Grajewski said Iran had more than a dozen large underground facilities where it has been able to keep launchers and missiles, adding: “The big question is: have these facilities collapsed?”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-can-only-confirm-about-third-irans-missile-arsenal-destroyed-sources-say-2026-03-27/

As India’s diplomats negotiated an accord that would ease punitive U.S. tariffs on the South Asian country’s exports in January, New Delhi slashed its purchases of Russian crude oil in ​a move that was widely seen as a painful concession to President Donald Trump.
Just two months later, however, Delhi and Moscow are deepening their energy cooperation, with both sides agreeing to prepare for Russia to resume direct sales of ‌liquefied natural gas for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, according to two people familiar with the matter. If India decides to pursue the deal, which risks violating Western sanctions, negotiations could be concluded in weeks, one of the people said.

Details of the talks, which come amid skyrocketing energy prices triggered by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, have not been previously reported. The “verbal agreement” to negotiate an LNG deal was reached during a March 19 meeting between Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin and Indian Petroleum and Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Delhi, the people said.
The two officials also agreed to further increase crude ​oil sales to India, which could double from January’s levels to at least 40% of India’s total imports in about a month, three people familiar with their deliberations said.
India became a major buyer of Russian crude that was heavily discounted after the ​invasion of Ukraine, which became a point of contention with the Trump administration. The world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer purchased nearly $44 billion of crude from Moscow last year, playing a vital role in ⁠keeping the Kremlin’s wartime economy alive.

Delhi has separately told its energy importers to get ready to resume purchases of Russian LNG, one of the people said. India has already approached Washington about a possible sanctions waiver, according to the source and a second person familiar with ​the request.
India’s external affairs and petroleum ministries did not respond to questions about the potential LNG deal before publication. When asked about this Reuters article at a briefing on Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government’s energy policy was based on its need to ​meet the requirements of 1.4 billion people, market dynamics and global conditions.
Indian authorities have also said they are purchasing cargos of Russian liquefied petroleum gas, which is largely used for cooking and isn’t under sanctions.

The Russian energy ministry declined to comment about any discussions with India, while the U.S. Treasury Department did not address questions about sanctions relief.
The White House and Ukraine’s embassy in Delhi did not respond to requests for comment.
“India chose the course that best served its national interests, anchored in a long-standing and trusted partnership with Russia,” said Ajai Malhotra, a former Indian ambassador to Moscow.
Delhi should now “demand exemptions or accommodations as a normal ​part of negotiation between strategic partners,” he added, referring to Washington.

DOUBLE WHAMMY

While India has been courted by the United States for decades as a strategic counterweight to neighbouring China, the world’s fifth-largest economy has now been left reeling twice in less than a year by decisions ​initiated largely in Washington.

After years of buying crude oil from Moscow at discounted rates, Delhi sharply curtailed purchases after Trump in August imposed tariffs of as high as 50% on Indian goods, or among the most punitive levied on any country. The U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled that Trump acted ‌unlawfully in enacting ⁠such tariffs.
India’s calculus quickly changed after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Tehran’s retaliation included targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down the narrow strip through which about half of India’s crude oil and LNG supplies pass.
Long lines have since been seen outside some Indian gas stations, while some restaurants have run out of cooking gas.
Demand for Russian energy exports, which when transported to Asian customers avoid the Gulf, has sharply increased across the region’s economies.
India’s state-owned refiners began ordering additional purchases of Russian crude in the hours before the U.S. on March 5 announced a temporary waiver that would allow Delhi to buy some sanctioned cargoes. As oil prices continued to climb, Washington further loosened restrictions.
Some Indian policymakers have lamented that Delhi cut Russian crude imports as a concession to the U.S., according to a government document seen ​by Reuters.
“India had reduced purchases of discounted Russian crude, which would ​have buffered the situation to an extent,” said the note, ⁠a briefing on the Middle East crisis that was prepared on March 20 for the cabinet secretariat.
It cautioned that a prolonged disruption of oil flows from the Middle East would prompt a cascade of economic challenges, “leading to higher inflation, a weaker currency and rising foreign debt.”
Export growth could take a hit of between 2% and 4%, it warned, adding that wholesale inflation could rise by between 0.3% and 0.7%.

WARMING TIES

Russia, ​which has maintained friendly ties with India since the Cold War, is pressing its advantage.
Any new LNG accord would likely contain less favourable terms for India as compared to the 20-year supply deal India’s ​state-owned GAIL agreed with Russia’s Gazprom in ⁠2012, according to one of the sources. “It is now a seller’s market,” the person said.
Executives at Russian state power grid company Rosseti, who were in Delhi this month for an industry summit, also proposed working with their Indian counterparts on transmission facilities, largely in mountainous and remote areas of the country, one of the sources said.
If an agreement is reached, it would mark Moscow’s first foray into India’s power transmission sector.
Russia is also keen to expand air connectivity with India: Timofei Titarenko, an executive with St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, told Reuters last week that he has been visiting Indian ⁠airports and exploring the ​possibility of more direct flights.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trumps-iran-war-pushes-india-rekindle-old-friendship-with-russia-2026-03-27/

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Friday it was taking emergency action to pay 50,000 airport security officers who have gone unpaid ​since mid-February, after work absences brought chaos and long security lines to U.S. ‌airports.
“(The Transportation Security Administration) has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce. TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday,” DHS said.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would take executive action to pay TSA ​workers and issued a memo directing the payments Friday.
The TSA said earlier on Friday that ​nearly 12% of airport security officers did not show up for work on ⁠Thursday, the most absences since mid-February.
Major disruptions, including airport security lines of several hours or more, ​were reported at a number of major airports on Thursday and again on Friday. The TSA said ​more than 3,450 officers did not show up for work on Thursday, including more than one-third of officers at New York’s JFK and at airports in Baltimore, Houston and Atlanta.

The TSA cited reports of lines of four hours ​or more at airports across the country – the worst lines in the agency’s nearly 25-year history.
Airline ​officials told Reuters that absences and lines could worsen this weekend if there were no concrete details on how ‌TSA ⁠officers would be paid. Nearly 500 airport security officers have quit since February.

It is unclear how long the funding will last or whether Trump would tap funding for the Homeland Security Department approved last year as part of a massive tax and spending bill.
Democrats in Congress have held up funding ​for DHS while demanding ​a change in rules ⁠governing its immigration operations, after agents in Minneapolis shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives ​on Friday rejected a bipartisan Senate compromise to end the six-week deadlock over ​DHS funding.

Congressional ⁠Democrats had proposed funding TSA separately while negotiating over reforms on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/dhs-orders-payment-50000-us-airport-workers-emergency-action-2026-03-27/

President Donald Trump said ​on Thursday he will take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers as a deal stalled in Congress to address staff shortages that have ‌snarled travel around the country.
Trump said he was instructing the Homeland Security Department “to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”

Nearly 500 airport security officers have quit since the ​start of a partial government shutdown in February, the Homeland Security Department said, as a congressional dispute over the department’s funding forces ​Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay.
It is unclear how long the funding will last or if Trump ⁠is tapping funding for the Homeland Security Department approved last year as part of a massive tax and spending bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune ​called Trump’s move “a short-term solution,” but he did not mention the duration of the TSA paychecks.
Representative Bennie Thompson, top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, ​said it is not clear how Trump plans to pay TSA officers legally.

France said its ​military chief held talks with around 35 countries on Thursday as it sought partners and ‌proposals for a mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran ends.
The United States’ Western allies have said they will not take part in the ongoing conflict. But the behind-the-scenes activity underscores concern that, after the fighting, ​Iran could continue to threaten the waterway which carries about a fifth of global oil supplies.

Shipping ​there has already slowed to a near‑halt after Iran struck vessels amid its conflict ⁠with the United States and Israel.
A French defence ministry statement did not name the foreign powers that held ​talks with Armed Forces Chief Fabien Mandon in a mass video conference, but said they came from all ​continents.
STRICTLY DEFENSIVE INITIATIVE
Sources said they were initial discussions to see how countries saw the crisis and offer ideas and seek feedback on what a mission could look like.
“This initiative, independent of the ongoing military operations in the region, is strictly defensive ​in nature,” the statement said.

“Its purpose is to organise the resumption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz ​once hostilities have ceased.”
Separately, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, Chief of Staff for the French Navy, said he had held talks with 12 naval counterparts – ‌including ⁠from Britain, Germany, Italy, India and Japan.
“We are exchanging views on issues related to freedom of navigation and maritime security, as the sea is a vital artery for our global economy and regional stability,” he wrote on X on Thursday.
FRANCE, BRITAIN TAKE PLANNING LEAD
Several countries are coordinating discussions. President Emmanuel Macron, who has suggested having ​a U.N. framework for ​any action in the ⁠strait, has said international efforts could only happen once hostilities calm, insurance and shipping firms are consulted and with Iran’s consent.
France has deployed its aircraft carrier strike ​group to the eastern Mediterranean as well as two helicopter carriers and eight ​warships to the ⁠Middle East in preparation for possible future missions.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/france-says-it-approached-35-countries-over-future-hormuz-mission-2026-03-26/

The United States has deployed ​uncrewed drone speedboats for patrols as part of its operations against Iran, the Pentagon said, ‌the first time Washington has confirmed using such vessels in an active conflict.
The deployment of the vessels — which can be used for surveillance or kamikaze strikes — has not been previously reported. It comes despite a series of setbacks in the U.S. Navy’s ​years‑long effort to field a fleet of uncrewed surface vessels, Reuters reported last year.

Uncrewed vessels have risen ​to prominence in recent years after Ukraine used explosive‑laden speedboats to inflict significant damage on Russia’s ⁠Black Sea Fleet.
Iran has used sea drones to attack oil tankers in the Gulf at least twice since ​the U.S. and Israel began strikes nearly a month ago. There was no indication the U.S. had used uncrewed ​vessels for offensive strikes.
In response to Reuters’ questions, Tim Hawkins, a Pentagon spokesperson for Central Command, said unmanned vessels built by Maryland-based BlackSea, known as the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, or GARC, had been used for patrols as part of the U.S. ​campaign against Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.”

“U.S. forces continue to employ unmanned systems in the Middle East region, including ​surface drone assets like the GARC. This platform, in particular, has successfully logged over 450 underway hours and more than ‌2,200 nautical ⁠miles during maritime patrols in support of Operation Epic Fury,” Hawkins said in a statement.
Hawkins declined to name any of the other unmanned systems being deployed. BlackSea declined to comment for this story.
NAVY STRUGGLES WITH DRONE BOATS
The U.S. has for years been trying to build a fleet of autonomous uncrewed surface and underwater vessels, as ​a cheaper and faster alternative ​to manned ships and ⁠submarines, particularly to counter China’s growing naval power in the Pacific. The effort, however, has fallen behind schedule and been dogged by technical problems, cost concerns and ​a series of testing setbacks.

Last year, Reuters reported the GARC, an angular speedboat about five ​meters long, ⁠was involved in multiple performance and safety issues, including one where it collided with another boat at speed during a military test.
In recent weeks, during another failed test in the Middle East, one GARC boat became inoperable, according to ⁠a ​source who was briefed on the matter.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-deploys-uncrewed-drone-boats-conflict-with-iran-2026-03-26/

U.S. President Donald Trump gave Iran another 10 days to ​reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy plants, after Iran rejected his proposals to end the war he launched together with Israel.
Yet there was little concrete sign of progress toward ‌a truce as missiles continued to rain on Israel and Iran, which has shown signs of being able to sustain a long conflict.

The United States, which has set out to neutralise Iran’s long-range strike capabilities, can only confirm that about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal has been destroyed, five people familiar with the U.S. intelligence told Reuters.

Although senior Iranian officials have said diplomacy continues, Tehran gave no direct sign that it was ready for negotiation or compromise.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has effectively blocked traffic through the strait, conduit for 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas, reaffirmed ​that all shipping “to and from ports of allies and supporters of the Israeli-American enemies” to any destination was prohibited.
IRAN URGES GULF CIVILIANS TO MOVE AWAY FROM U.S. BASES
Guards also urged civilians across the Middle East, where Iran has ​already attacked countries hosting U.S. forces, to vacate areas near U.S. bases, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Tehran had continued to fire missiles toward civilian areas ⁠in Israel, and therefore Israel’s attacks on Iran “will escalate and expand to additional targets”.
The war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and causing the biggest disruption in history to energy supplies, hitting the global economy with soaring oil, gas and fertiliser ​prices that have fuelled inflation fears.
In Iran, more than 1,900 people have been killed and at least 20,000 injured, said Maria Martinez of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Attacks on Israel by Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah have also prompted an Israeli ​onslaught that has displaced a fifth of Lebanon’s population.
Both Israel and the U.S. say they want to ensure that Iran can no longer threaten Israel with ballistic missiles or its nuclear programme, which Iran says is purely civilian, and that they would like to trigger an overthrow of Islamic rule.

On Thursday, Trump ⁠posted on social media that he would pause his threat to attack Iranian energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at 8 p.m. (0000 GMT on April 7).
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he added.

SHAPE OF ANY NEGOTIATIONS REMAINS UNCLEAR
Iran has said it is not talking directly to Washington, and Trump has not specified who the U.S. is said to be negotiating with in Iran, where many senior officials have been killed in the war.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he believed there had been indirect contacts, and preparations had been made to meet soon in Pakistan, which has good relations with Iran and passed on Washington’s 15-point proposal.
The Israeli military said it had attacked dozens ​of military sites in Tehran overnight linked to Iran’s missile ​programme, including weapons factories, launch infrastructure and personnel.
Strikes on ⁠three buildings in the Pardisan area of Qom, south of Tehran, killed at least 15 people and injured 10 others, Iranian media reported.
In Urmia, in the northwest, a direct missile strike on a housing complex killed and injured several civilians, with rescue operations continuing, Iranian media said.
The Fars news agency said two of Iran’s largest steel plants, in Ahvaz and Isfahan, had been attacked.
Stock markets ​continued their slide, while the Brent crude oil benchmark stood around $111, having risen more than 50% since the war began.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-pauses-attacks-irans-energy-plants-says-talks-are-going-well-2026-03-26/

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, after saying earlier that Ukrainian drones could help improve security in the Gulf region.

“Important meetings are scheduled. We appreciate the support of those who are ready to work with us to ensure security, and we support them too”, he said in a message on social media.

Earlier on Thursday, Zelensky offered Ukraine’s expertise in drone technology as a way of improving security across the globe, particularly in the Gulf.

“This matters because energy security – and the cost of living, particularly in Europe – depends on their oil, gas and other resources, and stable global markets,” he said in a video message to the Joint Expeditionary Force, a security alliance which held a summit meeting in Helsinki.

“The key is not only producing new weapons – especially drones – not just technology, but also real experience in using it, and integrating it with radars, aviation, and other air defence systems. We have this experience,” he said.

Zelensky said that in exchange he would be looking for assistance in defending Ukraine against the ongoing Russian invasion.

“We would like Middle Eastern states to also give us an opportunity to strengthen ourselves. They have certain air defence missiles of which we don’t have enough. That’s what we’d like to reach a deal on,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.

The BBC has spoken to several Ukrainian drone companies who say they have been approached by Gulf states for help, but have not yet been given the green light by the government in Kyiv.

Kvertus, a Ukrainian company that makes anti-drone electronic warfare systems, said it had been approached by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“We are waiting for approval to export any products. We understand that we need to coordinate with our government because it’s not only about business, about selling drones, it’s about politics,” the company’s chief executive officer Yaroslav Filimonov told the BBC.

Volodymyr Zinovsky, the CEO of Ukrainian manufacturer TAF Industries, said he was happy to wait for the government’s permission to export because Ukraine’s security is at stake.

“All of us are working to protect Ukraine, to stay with Ukraine and to keep Ukraine alive. This is about survival. And if we need to wait a few months, we will,” he told the BBC.

Zinovsky said his company had been approached by representatives of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, but told them to discuss this with the Ukrainian government.

Media reports suggest that the US is now considering diverting arms meant for Ukraine to the Gulf because of the war with Iran, making a drone deal even more crucial for Ukraine.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r4wxdw3no

A US lawmaker has made a direct plea to Sarah Ferguson to testify about her “close personal and business ties” to Jeffrey Epstein, according to a letter seen exclusively by the BBC.

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam urged her to provide information to the US congressional committee investigating the late sex offender. He also asked for any knowledge she had of her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s involvement in Epstein’s operations.

The letter represents the most direct pressure on the former duchess to testify since the start of the Epstein scandal.

Ferguson’s representatives have been approached for comment. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Mountbatten-Windsor has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment on the specific allegations in relation to the release of millions of Epstein files in January.

At the weekend, the BBC first revealed that some US lawmakers were calling for Ferguson to give evidence concerning her links to Epstein.

There is no legal mechanism to compel the former duchess to testify in the US.

In the letter, which was sent to Ferguson on Thursday and set a two-week deadline for her to respond, Democratic Congressman Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Committee, said the recent drop of Epstein files by the US Department of Justice had revealed her “close personal and business ties” with the American financier.

“As the committee seeks justice for the survivors of Mr Epstein’s criminal enterprise, and transparency for the American public, I respectfully request your co-operation with the committee’s investigation,” he wrote.

The letter referred to an email from a “Sarah” describing Epstein as “a legend” after his conviction in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor – in which it was written: “I am at your service. Just marry me.”

It also referenced emails that suggest Ferguson asked Epstein directly for financial assistance.

“Additionally, while you officially divorced former Prince Andrew in 1996, the committee is interested in learning more about any knowledge of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s involvement in Mr Epstein’s operations,” the letter said.

“It is clear that you possessed social and business ties to Mr Epstein and have knowledge of information that can assist our investigation,” it went on.

“I request that you cooperate with the committee’s investigation and provide information regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.

“Due to the urgency of this matter, I ask that you provide a response no later than April 9, 2026.”

New details emerged about the former Duchess of York’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender in the documents released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year.

Being named among the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

But the massive drop of files suggested she was more embroiled in his world than we had previously thought.

She comes across as a needy figure, chasing money and support – apparently describing herself to Epstein as “very traumatised and alone”.

Ferguson is seen praising the late sex offender in 2009 as “the brother I have always wished for”.

The emails also suggest she contacted Epstein while he was in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor – and that she took her daughters along for lunch with him in Miami, days after his release from prison.

Last weekend, Congressman Subramanyam told the BBC he now believed she had “information related to the investigation” and should give testimony to the committee.

His calls were echoed by Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, who urged anyone with information of wrongdoing by Epstein and his associates to co-operate in order to ensure justice for the survivors.

The committee is controlled by Republicans, who have not indicated they would support the move to urge Ferguson to testify.

But the family of prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre also said they “strongly believed” the former Duchess of York should go to the US to answer questions.

“If Ferguson knows anything, she should testify in the United States immediately,” a representative for Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts told the BBC.

US lawmakers have also repeatedly – and unsuccessfully – called for Mountbatten-Windsor to answer questions about his links to the late American financier and sex offender.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80m5y428xpo

The IOC has decided to bar transgender athletes from women’s Olympic events and will introduce a one-time gender test starting in 2028.

The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday (Mar 26) only “biological females” will be allowed to compete in women’s events, preventing transgender women from competing.

The IOC is re-introducing testing for gender to determine eligibility to take part in women’s events from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics onwards.

The move will also rule out many athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD).

In a major shift of policy, the IOC is abandoning rules it brought in in 2021 which allowed individual federations to decide their own policy and is instead implementing a policy across all Olympic sports.

“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one-time SRY gene screening,” the IOC said in a statement.

They will be carried out through a saliva sample, cheek swab or blood sample. It will be done once in an athlete’s lifetime.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry said: “The policy we have announced is based on science and has been led by medical experts.

“At the Olympic Games even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat.

“So it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”

In a press conference later, Coventry added: “I do feel that this policy is a policy that is supporting equality and fairness and the protection of the safety on the field of play.”

REMOVES POTENTIAL TRUMP CLASH

The new policy removes a potential source of conflict between the IOC and US President Donald Trump as the Los Angeles Olympics comes onto the horizon.

Trump issued an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sport soon after he came to office.

While sports such as swimming, athletics, cycling and rowing have brought in bans, many others have permitted transgender women to compete in the female category if they lowered their testosterone levels, normally through taking a course of drugs.

World Athletics welcomed the change of tack.

“We have led the way in protecting women’s sport over the last decade,” said a spokesperson for track and field’s international body.

“Attracting and retaining more girls and women into sport requires a fair and level playing field where there is no biological glass ceiling.

“This means that gender cannot trump biology. A consistent approach across all sport has to be a good thing.”

Gender testing was first introduced at the 1968 Olympics and last used at the 1996 Atlanta Games but then scrapped after criticism from the scientific community.

The new policy is set to face some opposition too, especially in relation to athletes with DSD, the rare condition in which a person’s hormones, genes and reproductive organs may have a combination of male and female characteristics.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine said in an article this month there was “no scientific data of acceptable quality regarding sport performance advantage of people with DSDs possessing an SRY gene.”

It added: “Evidence regarding their athletic performance is extremely limited and problematic.”

The best-known DSD athlete of recent years is South African runner Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympic women’s 800m champion who has male XY chromosomes.

The IOC is bringing in the new policy after the women’s boxing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics was rocked by a gender row involving Algerian fighter Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.

Khelif and Lin were excluded from the International Boxing Association’s 2023 world championships after the IBA said they had failed eligibility tests.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/los-angeles-olympics-women-biological-transgender-athletes-gender-6019806

THIS is the shocking moment a beauty contestant’s teeth fall out during a pageant.

Footage shows Miss Grand Thailand contestant Kamolwan Chanago delivering her opening remarks when her veneers come loose.

Rather than running offstage, Chanago briefly turns her back to the audience so she can put her pearly whites back in position.

Her bravery doesn’t go unnoticed as the audience begins to loudly cheer.

Spurred on by the applause, she then confidently strides forwards to complete the rest of her routine.

Striking a pose in her shimmering evening gown, Chanago even musters a smile for the camera.

Video of the remarkable incident quickly went viral on social media with users praising her professionalism.

This unlikely mishap came during the preliminary round of judging, while the overall winner will be crowned on Saturday.

Whoever that winner may be will represent Thailand at Miss Grand International 2026 in India.

However, this is not the first time a beauty contest in Southeast Asia has been shrouded in controversy.

The 21-year-old beauty queen stormed out in solidarity with Miss Mexico after the pageant president publicly reprimanded her on camera.

Nawat Itsaragrisil, Vice President for Asia and Oceania within the Miss Universe Organisation, berated contestant Melissa Flores Bosch for missing a sponsor shoot earlier that day.

During a live-stream, Nawat confronted Bosch and asked her to “explain herself” in front of the cameras.

When Bosch pushed back, he told her: “I didn’t give you the opportunity to talk.”

“I have a voice,” Bosch replied, accusing him of “not respecting me as a woman.”

The exchange escalated before Nawat instructed security to escort Bosch out of the hotel.

As Bosch stood her ground, the Danish beauty and several other contestants began to leave.

A visibly distressed Nawat could be heard shouting “Stop, stop!” and ordering them to “sit down.”

“This is about women’s rights,” Theilvig said.

“To trash another girl – it’s beyond disrespectful and it’s nothing I’ve ever done.

“That’s why I’m taking my coat and I’m going.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16143388/beauty-pageant-contestant-teeth-fall-out-speech/

Dozens of people were buried in a Kabul cemetery on Thursday in the second mass funeral of victims killed in an airstrike that hit a drug rehabilitation center in the Afghan capital earlier this month.

Bulldozers opened a large pit into which individual graves were dug for the 60 coffins. Afghan officials have said hundreds of people were killed when a Pakistani airstrike hit the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital on March 16.

The U.N. humanitarian affairs office has said the total death toll is still under verification. Pakistan has denied targeting civilians, saying it struck an ammunition depot.

The strike came amid escalating fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan that began in February and has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in Kabul.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

Pakistan declared last month that it is at “open war” with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.

The two sides declared a temporary truce last week ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The truce expired this week, and renewed fighting erupted on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan and others had been wounded.

Separately, the Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — said they have resumed attacks inside Pakistan after observing their own three-day Eid ceasefire.

Thursday’s funeral was the second mass funeral for victims at the addiction treatment center, after one was held for more than 50 people on March 18.

Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said on Thursday that the death toll from the strike on the center now stood at 411 people, after two of the wounded died in hospital and one more body was pulled from the rubble in recent days. A further 263 people were wounded, he said.

Zaman said the remains of 20 young men, aged about 18 to 19 years old, were never found. The young men were all in a room in the treatment center that was completely destroyed in the strike. “No sign of them remained,” he said. “We have not yet found any body parts of them to identify.”

The spokesman said many people remain missing. He said hundreds of people were still going to Kabul’s forensic department seeking news of their loved ones who had been in the Omid treatment center, as their relatives are not listed among the confirmed dead or the wounded.

Samira Mohammadi said she has been searching since the explosion for her 20-year-old son Arif, who was a patient at the treatment center. Her visits to several hospitals in the capital have been fruitless.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-pakistan-strikes-drug-treatment-conflict-d8d0b0f59aa56113a5e1a4722a7810d1

Dubai will implement key changes in April 2026, including the removal of OTPs for banking, resumption of in-person classes, return of airline services and the end of a temporary residency rule.

Dubai is set to witness several important changes in April 2026, affecting banking services, education, travel and residency rules, according to Time Out Dubai. Authorities have confirmed that these updates will be implemented as part of ongoing policy adjustments across the emirate.

Banks to phase out OTPs

According to News Report Banks in the United Arab Emirates are completing the phased removal of one-time passwords sent via text messages and email for high-value transactions.

The transition began in July 2025 under the direction of the Central Bank of the UAE and will now be fully implemented. Customers will instead be required to authenticate transactions through their bank’s mobile application, offering a higher level of security. OTPs have traditionally been used for online payments and digital transactions, including shopping and QR-based payments.

Schools to resume in-person learning

Students in Dubai, including those in public and private schools as well as universities, had been attending classes remotely for at least two weeks from March 23.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority has confirmed that distance learning will continue until April 3, after which students are expected to return to in-person classes. Authorities will continue to review the situation on a weekly basis.

Airlines plan return to Dubai Airport

According to Euronews, several international airlines had suspended operations to Dubai International Airport due to regional disruptions. However, some carriers are now planning to resume services in April.

Air France is expected to restart flights from April 2, while Turkish Airlines aims to resume operations after suspending services until the end of March. These plans remain subject to change, and passengers are advised to check with airlines for updates.

Temporary residency rule to end

A temporary measure allowing residents with expired permits to return to the UAE without a new entry permit will end on March 31, 2026.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dubai-to-introduce-major-changes-in-banking-education-and-travel-from-april-11264206?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

Indian IT services firm Infosys said on Wednesday it had entered into separate agreements to acquire U.S.-based technology companies Optimum Healthcare IT and Stratus in all-cash deals.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/infosys-acquire-us-firms-optimum-healthcare-it-465-million-stratus-95-million-6017006

HARRY Potter fans are spellbound by the first trailer for the upcoming HBO reboot of the famous wizarding franchise.

Young Dominic McLaughlin takes on the lead role as the boy who lived and he certainly looks to be a worthy successor to Daniel Radcliffe‘s version of the character.

The first series will cover J.K. Rowling’s first book, The Philosopher’s Stone, which made its big screen debut in 2001.

In the trailer Harry is bullied at school and cruelly taunted by his mean aunt Petunia (Bel Powley), who snips at his hair haphazardly with scissors.

We see him receive a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at his home in Privet Drive and muse about his parents’ untimely deaths, before emerging from a tube station with the friendly giant Hagrid, played by Nick Frost.

Loyal to the source material, a confused Harry seeks out platform 9 3⁄4 at King’s Cross Station and meets soon-to-be close pals Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout) and Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton) onboard the Hogwarts Express.

It’s like saying hello to an old friend as the first years arrive at the castle where they enter the Great Hall and are faced with the sorting hat and Professor McGonagall’s stern stare.

Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy (Lox Pratt) makes a blink and you’ll miss it appearance as do Severus Snape (Paapa Essiedu) and Albus Dumbledore (John Lithgow).

While we get a peek at Harry’s speedy broom the Nimbus 2000 and his Gryffindor quidditch robes.

In a welcome surprise for fans, the series is set for release in December, ahead of a previously expected 2027 air date.

HBO appears to have got the casting just right, with one fan posting: “Eeeeek!!! This is going to be so good!!!!”

Another said: “I’m soo freaking pumped for this!!!”

A third shared: “We’re all crying right?! Or is it just me?!”

A fourth said: “I’m sobbing. I’ve always been a hardcore fan and I didn’t want the series at first, and yet… I cried so much watching this… I don’t know how to feel, I didn’t expect it to feel so right. So heart clenching. So overwhelming and healing and at the same time.”

The build up to the trailer hasn’t been without drama.

Snape actor Paapa revealed he’s been subject to death threats after some fans were unhappy a black actor had been cast as the potions master, who is described in the book as pale and Dracula-like, though his race is never explicitly mentioned.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tv/16137055/harry-potter-trailer-air-date-revealed/

SHADY “zombie” tankers have been seen passing through the mine-riddled Strait of Hormuz using the names of scrapped ships.

Iran has maintained an effective blockade of the vital Persian Gulf chokehold – through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes – since US-Israeli forces began their bombing campaign on Tehran.

The blockade has left hundreds of ships stranded outside the 24-mile stretch of water, full of immensely valuable cargoes of oil, gas, fertiliser and food.

But 13 tankers – most of them Iranian – have made safe passage through the deadly strait over the weekend, according to shipping analysts Lloyds.

The vessels followed a strict route charted by the reeling regime, checking in at a secret island “toll booth” for inspection and paying eye-watering sums in Chinese currency.

“The pace of vessel transits across the Strait of Hormuz picked up over the weekend with at least 16 vessels crossing the chokepoint since Friday,” Lloyds List reports.

Other vessels to have been granted safe passage are associated with China, Russia, India and Pakistan.

But two shady tankers adopting names of scrapped ships were also able to slip through.

One claimed to be the Japanese LNG Jamal, a ship that was abandoned in India’s Alang ship-graveyard last year.

The other assumed the identity of Liberia’s oil tanker Nabin and Mozambique’s Nature’s Heart.

Nabin was taken apart in the Bangladesh Chittagong scrap-yard five years ago.

Zombie ships were making headlines earlier this year in attempts to avoid oil sanctions against Venezuela.

They disguise their identities by broadcasting a fake International Maritime Organisation registration number, name, call sign and flag of another vessel.

These IMOs are used to flout automated checks and fool port state control authorities.

Arsenio Longo, the founder of tanker movement analytics specialists Huax, told The National that this tactic works “precisely because no one is checking the physical vessel against the digital record in real time.”

“Those vessels then move the cargo onward wherever the final destination is, without ever having to transit Hormuz themselves,” he said.

“The zombie vessel is the bridge across the Strait of Hormuz checkpoint.”

Many of the ships that have passed through the strait have broadcast their nationalities as opposed to their destination to give themselves the best chance of security.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has insisted that the rogue state has not closed the Strait of Hormuz, as fuel prices skyrocket past $100 a barrel.

“The ships are being stopped because insurance companies fear a ‘war of choice’ that you, not Iran, have started,” he wrote on social media.

“Freedom of navigation is not possible without freedom of trade. Have both or expect neither.”

Two Indian tankers passed through the waterway on Monday after Donald Trump called off his threat to blitz Iran’s energy network over its closure.

They were said to have paid an astronomical $2million (£1.5m) “passage fee” in Chinese Yuan, a claim New Delhi has fiercely denied.

It comes as one of Iran’s most powerful weapons is lurking for its next victim in the strait.

The bloodthirsty Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has littered the Persian Gulf with deadly naval mines carrying explosives capable of blowing up enemy vessels.

US officials familiar with the latest intelligence revealed to CBS that there are two types of Iranian mines littering the passageway that until a month ago saw the transportation of a fifth of the global oil supplies.

Maham 3 and Maham 7 limpet mines are Iranian-manufactured and form a key part of the regime’s artillery.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16136450/zombie-ships-iran-strait-hormuz-mystery/

JINGER Duggar is breaking her silence on her brother Joe’s shocking arrest in an emotional

The 19 Kids and Counting star shared that she has been heartbroken since learning last week that Joe was charged with child molestation.

Jinger shared her thoughts in a new episode of her podcast with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo.

“We got the news last week, and it’s been a really difficult week of trying to process this,” Jeremy said.

“A week of us crying out to the Lord, asking for mercy and grace for those affected by this.”

“It’s been one of those weeks that feels like years. I did not think that my heart could break like it has this week,” Jinger said.

“The pain and heartbreak we’ve had over this, and just thinking of how it’s affected so many… it’s just unthinkable.”

Joe Duggar is accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl while on vacation in Florida in 2020.

The girl, now 14 years old, told investigators about the alleged abuse during a recent forensic interview.

Joe was arrested in Arkansas last week and is awaiting a transfer to Florida.

Jinger and Joe appeared alongside the rest of the Duggar family on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting from 2008 to 2015.

The show was cancelled after their brother Josh was was accused of molesting five children, including four of his sisters.

The disgraced reality star is currently serving 12 years in prison for possessing and receiving child sex abuse materials.

Jinger compared the arrest to Josh’s in her emotional statement.

“You can’t be prepared for news like this, even though we’ve experienced something very similar with one of my other siblings who made unthinkable choices, decisions that have affected all of us,” she said.

Jeremy added that the couple has been keeping Joe’s alleged victim in their thoughts.

“We’re praying for the victim. We’re praying for all those affected, asking that God’s grace would be apparent and would show up, even though on a human level, it’s hard to see where.”

Jeremy continued that they were “asking the Lord to expose truth that’s been hidden.”

Joe’s wife Kendra was also arrested and charged in connection to the case on Friday.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16136403/jinger-duggar-husband-jeremy-break-silence-joe-arrest/

The U.S. military said it carried out a strike Wednesday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, as the Trump administration pushes forward with a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America while waging a war against Iran.

The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 163 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on the dozens of strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat moving across the water before it was engulfed in a bright explosion.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.

But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/03/25/us-news/strike-in-caribbean-sea-on-alleged-drug-boat-kills-4-us-military-says/

Ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich shared a stunning theory about the illegal migrant accused of executing a Chicago area college student in cold blood — that it was part of some “gang initiation.”

Blagojevich, a Democrat whose 14-year prison sentence for federal corruption charges was cut short after President Trump commuted his sentence in 2020, wrote on X that he believes Jose Medina-Medina murdered Sheridan Gorman in an effort to make an impression with a local gang.

“Sheridan Gorman’s killer is being held in isolation. I suspect Pritzker & the Dems are hiding him to COVER-UP the fact that this illegal immigrant killed an innocent young girl as part of a GANG INITIATION,” he wrote.

“I know gangbangers & how they operate. I lived with them for 8 years. And I know Pritzker & the Dems. Bet you I’m right,” the self-described “Trump-o-crat,” who served in the state’s top office from 2003-2009, said.

Gorman, 18, was a freshman at Loyola University — and from Westchester County — when she was allegedly shot by Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, on the Loyola Beach Pier at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

She and her friends were near their campus and taking a walk to try to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights when Medina-Medina allegedly jumped out at them wearing black clothes and a black mask and wielding a gun, the Chicago Tribune reported.

When they fled, he allegedly fired off a single shot that struck Gorman in the head — and killed her.

Medina-Medina was allegedly caught on camera firing the gun, with his own mother helping ID him after investigators shared footage of the heinous shooting.

In May 2023, he was apprehended by the US Border Patrol and released during the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

He was sprung free again in June 2023 after a shoplifting arrest in Chicago.

Since Medina-Medina’s arrest, The Illinois Venezuelan Alliance said that there has been an uptick in hateful comments directed at the local Venezuelan community — while also raising questions about whether the killing could be gang-related, Fox32 Chicago reported.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/03/25/us-news/ex-illinois-gov-reveals-this-stunning-theory-about-illegal-migrant-accused-of-murdered-loyola-freshman-sheridan-gorman/

The “extraordinarily low” six-month sentence handed to a trans illegal immigrant who admitted to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Manhattan sparked outrage Wednesday from a victims’ rights group and left even former prosecutors in shock.

Legal eagles were baffled by the slap-on-the-wrist plea deal the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office struck with Nicol Alexandra Contreras-Suarez, a 31-year-old transgender woman from Colombia, in the vicious 2025 assault of a 14-year-old boy in East Harlem.

“I didn’t know you could get six months on this,” said Seth Zuckerman, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s Office and current criminal defense lawyer.

“It’s generally a minimum of two and a maximum of seven, so I think something must be wrong here,” he said, referring to the penalty for the charge of second-degree rape, which Contreras-Suarez pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.

“I have got clients charged in similar statutes who are not given the same opportunity to get such a favorable deal,” Zuckerman told The Post.

The convicted rapist was promised a sentence of just six months, which has already been served, a sweetheart deal even by existing statutory standards.

The light sentence also didn’t sit well with Mark Bederow, a New York City defense attorney and former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office who has worked many rape cases over his career.

“Traditionally, somebody who is preying upon a child, following them into a location and raping them — that’s a terrible crime,” he said.

He called the promised six-month jail term for the sick assault “extraordinarily low,” especially as Contreras-Suarez, who has been locked up on Rikers Island since their arrest last February, will get credit for time served at their April 27 sentencing.

Given the immigration status of the deranged perpetrator — who was also wanted in another state for other violent crimes at the time of the attack — “that’s not generally the type of client that engenders a lot of sympathy,” Bederow added.

“Normally, the minimum for this crime would be two years, unless there are circumstances found by the court, which they would put on the record, to allow a lesser sentence,” he said.

“I don’t know what those were in this case, other than the fact they wanted to spare the child from testifying and the defendant was going to be deported,” he said.

“It’s just not a good look for the DA, justifying making a light sentence because the person is scheduled to be deported, because many people are not,” he said, referring to Big Apple sanctuary policies that tie local officers’ hands in cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

“In terms of not wanting the child to testify and be retraumatized, it’s understandable on some level. But it is certainly the optics of a very sweetheart deal for someone who committed a terrible crime.”

DA Alvin Bragg’s office said the resolution was reached in close consultation with the victim’s family, sparing the teenager from having to testify to both the grand jury and over several days at trial.

“We expect the defendant to remain detained and be deported following sentencing, due to the felony conviction,” a spokesperson for the DA’s Office said in a statement after Judge Michele Rodney accepted the plea during a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing Tuesday.

Jennifer Harrison, founder of the advocacy group Victims Rights NY and a critic of Bragg, said it sent a chilling message.

“Let’s not pretend this sentence reflects real justice. It doesn’t. It sends a dangerous message that even the most horrific crimes against children won’t be met with the full weight of the law,” she told The Post.

“And what message does that send beyond this case? That predators can come into New York, rape a child, destroying their lives and still expect leniency.”

The contemptible pervert, who was born male, is scheduled to be freed next month unless federal authorities are able to intervene and remove them from the country.

The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post as to what, if any, options they were pursuing to ensure Contreras-Suarez doesn’t remain free to potentially claim more victims.

Contreras-Suarez was picked up for illegally entering the US in San Ysidro, California, in March of 2023, but was allowed to proceed into the country by the Biden administration.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/03/25/us-news/outrage-as-trans-illegal-immigrant-gets-just-6-month-sentence-for-sexual-assault-of-nyc-teen/

The Pentagon is expected to send ​thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, two people familiar with the ‌matter told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to a massive U.S. military buildup even as President Donald Trump talks about a possible deal with Tehran to end the war.
Reuters first reported on March 18 that Trump’s administration was considering deploying thousands of additional U.S. troops, a move that would expand options to include deployment of forces ​inside Iranian territory. Such an escalation could dramatically raise the stakes in the conflict, which is already in its fourth week ​and has roiled global markets.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not specify where in the ⁠Middle East the troops would go or when they would arrive in the region. The soldiers are stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The ​U.S. military referred questions to the White House, which said all announcements on troop deployments would come from the Pentagon.
“As we have said, President Trump ​always has all military options at his disposal,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
No decision had been made to send troops into Iran itself, one of the sources told Reuters, but they will build up capacity for potential future operations in the region.

One of the sources said the Pentagon was set to send between ​3,000 and 4,000 soldiers.
The soldiers’ deployment follows Reuters’ March 20 report about the U.S. decision to send thousands of Marines and sailors aboard ​the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, along with its Marine Expeditionary Unit and accompanying warships to the Middle East.
Prior to the additional forces being sent ‌to the ⁠region, there were 50,000 U.S. troops there.News of reinforcements comes just a day after Trump postponed threats to bomb Iranian power plants, saying there had been “productive” talks with Iran.

But after Trump’s Truth Social comment on Monday, Iran denied that any talks had been held.
The U.S. has carried out strikes against 9,000 targets inside Iran since U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran started on February 28.

Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed so ​far in the war and 290 ​have been wounded, a U.S. ⁠official said. While 10 remain seriously wounded, 255 troops have returned to duty.

TRUMP WEIGHS NEXT STEPS

Sources had previously said the U.S. military was looking at options in the Iran war including securing the Strait of ​Hormuz, potentially by deploying U.S. forces to Iran’s shoreline.
The Trump administration has also discussed options to send ​ground forces to Iran’s ⁠Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran’s oil exports, Reuters has reported.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-expected-send-thousands-soldiers-middle-east-sources-say-2026-03-24/

Pakistan’s role as a possible host of talks aimed at ending the Iran war builds on its courtship ​of U.S. President Donald Trump and its reputation as a relatively neutral player with long-standing ties to neighbouring Iran’s Islamic Republic.
If talks happen, it could raise Pakistan’s global ‌prominence to heights not reached since Pakistan helped mediate the secret diplomatic opening that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972.

It would cap over a year of relationship building with Trump that has involved astute diplomacy and crypto deals.
Pakistan, which maintains direct contact with both Washington and Tehran at a time when such channels are frozen for most other countries, would also benefit directly from an end to the war.
The South Asian nation is home ​to the world’s second-largest Shi’ite Muslim population after Iran, and faced nationwide protests the day after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the conflict ​on February 28.
The risk of a prolonged war in Iran spilling over into Pakistan is among Islamabad’s biggest fears, analysts and security officials say. Pakistan, ⁠which has been engaged in a conflict with the Afghan Taliban, has also suffered from fuel disruptions caused by the Iran war.

“Pakistan has unusual credibility as a mediator, maintaining workable ties with both Washington ​and Tehran, while a history of strained relations with each gives it just enough distance to be seen as a credible go-between,” Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy ​Institute, told Reuters.

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING WITH TRUMP

Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has built a close relationship with Trump to repair years of mistrust. Pakistan joined Trump’s Board of Peace just after Munir flew to Davos to meet Trump in January.
Pakistan has also struck a deal with a crypto business linked to Trump’s family to use its USD1 stablecoin for cross-border payments, while White House envoy Steve Witkoff helped broker an agreement to redevelop New York’s Roosevelt Hotel, owned ​by Pakistan’s national airline.

Pakistan has been involved in diplomacy to end the Iran conflict since it started, including shuttling at least half a dozen messages between the U.S. and Iran, according to five ​official Pakistani sources.
Before Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed the offer of talks on Tuesday, one of the Pakistani sources and a foreign source said that officials from both countries could hold talks in Islamabad as soon as ‌the end ⁠of this week. The Pakistani source said U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to take part.
According to official press releases, over the past month, Sharif and Pakistan’s foreign minister have held over 30 conversations with counterparts in the Middle East, including half a dozen with Iranian officials. Two took place on Monday, the same day the U.S. said mediation efforts were underway, and came alongside a phone conversation between Munir and Trump that was confirmed by the White House.

“Pakistan hosting U.S.-Iran talks represents a major upgrade in Islamabad’s strategic standing,” Kamran Bokhari, senior resident ​fellow with the Middle East Policy Council in ​Washington, told Reuters.
“After decades of being a troubled ⁠state, Pakistan appears to be re-emerging as a major American ally in West Asia,” he said.

TIES WITH TEHRAN

Bokhari said Pakistan was Iran’s least adversarial neighbour while maintaining “the closest ties with its historic regional adversary Saudi Arabia and (being) trusted by Washington”.
Pakistan shares a sensitive border with Iran across its southwestern ​Balochistan province, the site of a decades-long insurgency. The neighbours clashed along their border in January 2024, but ties have since been repaired.
Iran may perceive ​it as more neutral than ⁠other possible mediators. “Unlike Gulf states like Qatar, Pakistan does not host U.S. military bases and is a military power in its own right,” said Weinstein.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-leans-us-iran-ties-emerge-potential-peacebroker-2026-03-24/

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Reuters on Tuesday ​that early interest in Venezuela’s oil sector is positive but she called for more transparency and contract security, including a new oil law, to further increase crude and ‌gas output in the South American country.
In January, Venezuela’s National Assembly approved a sweeping reform of the country’s main oil law after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro this year. The new law grants foreign producers autonomy to operate and export the OPEC country’s oil, yet many companies have said more changes are needed to reach U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal of attracting $100 billion in investment.

“I’m here to attract attention to Venezuela, not delay it,” she said ​in an interview before her Tuesday afternoon speech at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
Machado said Venezuela could eventually produce as much as 5 million barrels of oil a day, ​with $150 billion in investment needed. Investors, however, need rule of law, independent institutions and respect for contracts in Venezuela in the long term, which Machado ⁠says would be granted by a new government once the country holds a presidential election.
In the meantime, she said, Washington’s supervision of oil revenue is needed to prevent corruption or wrongdoing. Since January, the ​U.S. has been controlling oil proceeds through bank accounts handled by the Treasury Department, and the Venezuelan administration of interim President Delcy Rodriguez is working to restore output to the 1.2 million bpd it ​was producing before a strict U.S. oil blockade was implemented to pressure Maduro.

With some investors starting to travel to Caracas to consider new investments in the country, ConocoPhillips (COP.N), thinks more needs to be done before oil majors agree to develop major new projects. The company departed Venezuela after its assets were expropriated in 2007 and is still owed around $12 billion.
CEO Ryan Lance, who also spoke at CERAWeek on Tuesday, said Venezuela needs to “completely rewire” its fiscal system ​and called recent reforms “woefully inadequate.”
Even Chevron (CVX.N), the only U.S. oil major currently operating in Venezuela, wants additional legislation. “There’s still things that need to happen to encourage investment at the scale that people would like ​to see,” CEO Mike Wirth said in remarks at the same conference on Monday.
Spanish energy group Repsol (REP.MC), plans to triple its gross crude production in Venezuela to 150,000 barrels per day over the next three years, Francisco ‌Gea, executive ⁠managing director of exploration and production, said on the sidelines of the conference on Tuesday.

Machado, asked if investors should speak to her or the Rodriguez administration, said it depends on whether investors “want to refer to the past, or to the future, and then you make up your mind.” She said elections would come soon, and she is committed to and supportive of the strategy put in place by the U.S. administration.
Asked if interested investors should return right now or wait, she said they “should be preparing, and looking for opportunities.”
Rodriguez has said that the country has sufficient protections to attract investment.
“You have guarantees, you ​have legal certainty, political security, stability and peace ​of mind so your investments can be ⁠developed fully – not only in the hydrocarbons sector, where there are many opportunities, but also in the mining sector,” Rodriguez told visiting investors at an event at the presidential palace in Caracas.
Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said early interest in Venezuela’s energy industry could facilitate further investment. An ongoing review of ​oil contracts, particularly of those signed under Maduro, also could provide trust, she added.
In her address to a packed conference hall, Machado said that ​investors under an eventual democratic ⁠government in Venezuela would be able to book reserves, have access to international arbitration and the electricity sector would also be opened up to private companies.
She said that elections, when called, would take nine months to organize.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ceraweek-venezuela-opposition-leader-maria-corina-machado-pushes-energy-2026-03-24/

Tracking technologies designed ​to prevent runway collisions did not work at New York’s LaGuardia airport when an Air Canada Express (AC.TO), jet struck a fire truck on Sunday night, killing the ‌two pilots, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the airport’s ground surveillance system did not generate an alert warning of the close proximity of vehicles to the runway.

In addition, the fire truck that collided with the jet lacked a transponder that would have transmitted its location to air traffic control, she said.
The NTSB is leading the investigation into the fatal collision of the CRJ-900 jet operated by Air Canada’s ​regional partner Jazz Aviation. The crash sent 39 of the 76 passengers and crew to hospital with varying degrees of injuries, with six still hospitalized, Air Canada said ​on Tuesday evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration has encouraged airports to equip fire trucks with transponders because it makes the vehicles’ movements easier to track ⁠at busy airports.

“Controllers should have all the information, the tools to do their job,” Homendy said. “You have to have information on ground movements, whether that’s aircraft or vehicles moving.”
U.S. air safety ​experts have said communications between the plane that was landing, the air traffic controller and the fire truck would be key areas of the investigation.
Air crashes typically are caused by multiple factors, and the ​investigation’s goal is to improve aviation safety.
The NTSB can make safety recommendations to the FAA, which manages U.S. air traffic control, but they are not binding.
Homendy flagged longstanding NTSB concerns that controller staffing was limited for the busy airport, despite meeting FAA norms for an overnight shift. There were two controllers working in a glass-enclosed section of the airport’s traffic control tower at the time of the crash, just before midnight.

“In this situation, ​for the midnight shift, it is standard operating procedure that they only have two on duty and those two perform the duties of other controllers,” she told reporters at LaGuardia. “Certainly, I ​can tell you that our air traffic control team has stated this is a concern for them for years.”

But she said questions remained over how the tasks were divided between the two controllers and why ‌the one involved ⁠in clearing the truck was not relieved from duty immediately after the accident.

20 SECONDS FROM CLEARANCE TO CRASH

Citing data from the cockpit voice recorder, the NTSB said there were only 20 seconds from the moment the truck was given clearance to cross the runway to assist another plane and the end of the recording. Nineteen seconds before the end, an electronic callout told the pilots they were 100 feet above the ground.
Former FAA Air Traffic Control Specialist Mike McCormick said the Air Canada Express pilots would likely not have had enough time to abort their landing. The ​truck crossed the runway just nine seconds before ​the crash.
Homendy said the runway status lights ⁠that flash red and warn it is unsafe to cross a runway were operational. That raises questions about why the truck crossed, McCormick said.
The accident occurred on a misty evening, and Homendy said visibility from the airplane and truck would be examined.
The NTSB, which has sounded the alarm ​about close calls and runway incursions for years, last month found the deadly January 2025 mid-air collision of an American Airlines (AAL.O), regional jet ​and an Army helicopter occurred ⁠in part because the high workload “degraded controller performance and situation awareness”.
Homendy said that the NTSB was interviewing on Tuesday the local controller who started at 10:45 p.m. ET after a shift change 15 minutes earlier and whose interactions with different planes and the truck were heard on liveatc.net.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us-safety-agency-says-tracking-system-failed-laguardia-during-jet-collision-2026-03-24/

A rare Eid phone call turns explosive as Imran Khan speaks out from jail, alleging mistreatment of his wife and raising alarm over his own health, deepening the political storm around his imprisonment.

A rare Eid phone call from behind prison walls has opened a new front in Imran Khan’s battle with Pakistan’s establishment, with the jailed former prime minister accusing authorities of subjecting his wife, Bushra Bibi, to “inhumane treatment”.

The message, delivered through his son Kasim Khan after speaking to him on Saturday, carries both anger and desperation, and marks Khan’s first public remarks since fears over his failing eyesight intensified.

In a sharply worded statement, Khan turned his fire on Pakistan’s judiciary, accusing it of enabling what he described as pressure tactics against him.

“The judges in this country should be ashamed of themselves. Time and again we have gone to the judiciary but they have sold their souls for personal gain. They have sold their integrity,” he said.

“They know they cannot break me, so they turn to my wife. How can they allow this inhumane treatment of Bushra Bibi, simply to blackmail me?”

At the centre of his claims is the condition of Ms Bibi, who has been lodged in Adiala Jail since January.

Khan alleged she is being kept in near-total isolation.

“She is being kept in complete isolation, except for 30 minutes with me per week and even that is denied often,” he said, painting a stark picture of their limited contact.

The allegations come as the couple remains entangled in multiple corruption cases. Khan and Bibi were sentenced to 14 and seven years respectively in one case linked to a property trust.

In December 2024, both were handed 17-year prison terms in another case involving the purchase of luxury state gifts.

His party continues to reject the cases as politically driven.

Khan has been in jail since August 2023, months after his removal from office through a parliamentary vote, an episode he has long claimed was engineered by Pakistan’s powerful military with backing from the US.

Running parallel to the political fight is a growing concern over Khan’s health.

On Monday, he was taken out of Adiala Jail for a third round of treatment for severe vision loss in his right eye, at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.

“The injection was administered and he was kept under observation for some time before being shifted back to Adiala Jail,” a doctor said.

Doctors have now completed a three-dose treatment, with a review expected after four weeks to decide the next steps.

In January, his lawyer had said Khan had already lost about 85 per cent vision in the affected eye.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/imran-khan-accuses-pakistan-judiciary-of-inhumane-treatment-to-wife-bushra-bibi-amid-jail-health-concerns-2886688-2026-03-25

Vietnam and Russia signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant in Vietnam as the Southeast Asian country revives its nuclear plans with hopes of boosting energy security while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

The deal for the Ninh Thuan 1 plant, reported by Vietnamese state media, comes after two similar projects were shelved in 2016 over rising costs and safety issues.

The agreement was signed Monday during Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính’s visit to Moscow, where he met his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin. The two countries described the plant as a “symbolic project” of their friendship, according to Vietnam’s official government newspaper.

The new plant also fits with Vietnam’s ambitions to become rich by 2050 by growing into Asia’s next “tiger economy.”

The deal outlines plans to build two Russian-designed reactors with a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts, which are based on an existing plant in Russia.

Concerns over energy security have sharpened since the war in Iran triggered a global energy shortage, raising the cost of imported fossil fuels and adding urgency to Hanoi’s search for stable, long-term power sources.

Across Southeast Asia, fast-growing economies are turning to nuclear power for cleaner, more reliable energy. Advocates say it offers lower emissions than coal, oil and gas, while newer technology has made reactors safer, smaller and cheaper to build.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-russia-nuclear-power-energy-security-asia-cec89f114c4e812673b1dc8c173bb2b0

It is the first major strike to hit the broadcaster in around 20 years after a majority of union members rejected a pay offer that was below inflation.

Hundreds of journalists went on strike on Wednesday (Mar 25) at Australia’s main public broadcaster, demanding better pay and protections to stop artificial intelligence taking their jobs.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation was forced to replace live programming with BBC content after more than 2,000 journalists and employees called a 24-hour strike.

It is the first major strike to hit the broadcaster in around 20 years after a majority of union members rejected a pay offer that was below inflation.

It comes after months of pay negotiations between staff and management. The majority of ABC staff this week rejected the latest offer of a 10 per cent pay rise over three years and a A$1,000 (US$700) bonus for ongoing and fixed-term staff.

Australia’s annual inflation rate was 3.8 per cent in January.

One-third of the ABC’s 4,500 employees are unionised. Around 1,000 people voted in favour of taking industrial action after talks failed.

“ABC staff don’t want to strike, they want to do their jobs,” the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said in a statement.

“They want fair pay, secure work, and guardrails around the use of technologies like AI to protect editorial integrity and public trust,” the union added.

Falling advertising revenues and the rise of social media have fuelled repeated rounds of job cuts across Australia’s media.

ABC management said the pay offer “reflects the maximum level” it can “sustainably provide”, but unions want greater job security and limits on the use of AI.

THREE KEY ISSUES

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), which represents many of the staff striking, has argued that the offer is below inflation, and their requests for a solution to short-term, rolling contracts have been ignored.

Michael Slezak, ABC journalist and co-chair of the MEAA ABC National House Committee, said the decision to strike came down to three “key” issues, including pay, fixed-term contracts and progression.

The MEAA initially asked for a pay rise of 5.5 per cent.

“That’s a below-inflation pay offer; that is just a pay cut with better branding,” Mr Slezak said.

Another issue Mr Slezak said was “endemic” to the ABC was an over-reliance on fixed-term and casual employees, who “don’t know whether they’re going to be able to pay their rent or their mortgage when their contract is up”.

The final key issue the MEAA had been focused on was pay progression, specifically calling for automatic progression through the ABC’s pay points to a certain level based on satisfactory performance.

“At the moment you have people stuck for years and years at the same level in our pay systems, despite accumulating massive amounts of experience and applying that to our work,” Mr Slezak said.

Asked whether he thought a deal could be reached with the MEAA and CPSU, ABC managing director Hugh Marks said he thought there was still a gap between what management and unions were seeking.

“I’m finding it very difficult to deal with an organisation that I can’t wrestle into an agreement,” he said.

In an interview on 702 ABC Sydney on Wednesday morning, Marks said it was “very unfortunate” that the pay negotiations had come to this.

“On behalf of the ABC, I feel terrible,” he said.

Asked if he was sorry, Marks said he was. “Very much so,” he said.

Marks added that the offer, inclusive of the A$1,000 one-off bonus, would amount to a pay rise above inflation for some workers.

He said he sympathised with some staff on uncertain short-term contracts or whose pay was capped at rates tied to their job description, an issue he said he felt “needs to be addressed”.

The ABC will take the matter to Australia’s workplace tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, in a bid to resolve the dispute.

“It is not a great time for our teams to be out. There is a lot of things happening in the world,” Marks told ABC Radio.

DEFINITION OF “EMERGENCY BROADCASTING” WIDENED

Mr Marks on Wednesday said on ABC Radio Sydney that he had widened the definition of “emergency broadcasting”.

This means that staff members could be demanded to return to work if there is an escalation in the Middle East conflict or the fuel crisis, local agency The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

“Yesterday, I made the decision to change the definition of what is emergency broadcasting. I changed it from this notion that it only applies to fires, floods or cyclones or natural events,” Mr Marks said.

Pressed by ABC Sydney Mornings on whether he was referring to the ongoing fuel crisis and wars in the Middle East, Marks said it “depends upon how those matters progress”.

“It is not a great time for our team to be out. There are a lot of things happening in the world,” Marks said.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/abc-australia-bbc-strike-pay-ai-6015126

The suspects allegedly surveilled a German national who supplied drones and related components to Ukraine, prosecutors said.

Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Tuesday that two people have been taken into custody and accused of spying for Russia.

The two suspects were a 45-year-old Romanian woman, who was detained in the northwestern German city of Rheine, and a 43-year-old Ukrainian man, who was arrested in the southeastern Spanish city of Elda.

The alleged spies were reportedly targeting a German national who supplied drones and related components to Ukraine, prosecutors said in a statement.

“Starting in December 2025, Sergey N., acting on behalf of a Russian intelligence service, surveilled a person in Germany who was shipping drones and related components from here to Ukraine,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Sergey N. gathered information and made video recordings of the target’s workplace.

Suspects worked together

When the man moved to Spain, the Romanian national identified as Alla S. is believed to have taken over his assignment, going to the target’s address and filming it with her phone.

“The surveillance activities were presumably intended to prepare further intelligence operations against the target,” prosecutors said.

According to German magazine Der Spiegel, investigators believe these operations could have included physical attacks or an assassination attempt.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/germany-detains-two-suspected-of-spying-for-russia/a-76511536

KP George, first Indian origin judge in Fort Bend Texas, was convicted of money laundering over campaign funds misuse.

A US county judge has been convicted of money laundering in Texas, reported Fox 26 Houston, a US-based news outlet.

KP George was the first Indian-origin judge in Ford Bend, a county based in Texas. According to a report by Fox 26 Houston, George was convicted of third-degree felony charges, which carry a sentence of between 2 to 10 years.

He will be sacked from the office following his sentencing.

What Is KP George Accused Of?

According to the report, KP George was convicted of transferring over USD 46,000 in campaign funds to his personal account.

While his attorneys argued it was a repayment of loans, the jury saw it as a criminal act. Assistant District Attorney Katherine Peterson said George “kept lying” in campaign finance reports and used the funds for his “personal benefit”.

The money allotted to campaign was transferred to personal accounts, as well as, used for “car payments and other personal costs”.

Kuwait International Airport remains closed to commercial traffic after a drone strike hit a fuel tank, causing a fire but no casualties, authorities said.

Kuwait International Airport is still not open — and the latest drone strike has made that reality harder to reverse. On March 24, drones targeted a fuel storage tank at the airport, triggering a visible fire that was quickly contained by emergency crews. Authorities said there were no casualties, but the optics were stark: flames rising from one of the Gulf’s key aviation hubs, again. This was not an isolated incident. It was the continuation of a pattern that has been unfolding for nearly a month.

Since February 28, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered a wider regional conflict, Kuwait has found itself repeatedly in the line of fire. Tehran’s retaliation has not been confined to Israel or US bases alone. It has extended across the Gulf — and Kuwait, despite its relatively cautious posture, has been hit multiple times.

Two Russians are due to go on trial in Angola accused of stirring up anti-government protests, conducting a campaign of disinformation, and attempting to interfere in next year’s presidential election.

Arrested last August, political consultant Igor Ratchin and translator Lev Lakshtanov are facing 11 charges, including terrorism, espionage and influence peddling.

The BBC has obtained a copy of the indictment that includes charges relating to an alleged operation aimed at changing the political course of Angola.

The Russians’ lawyers challenge the indictment on the grounds that it lacks “concrete and objective facts”.

According to the prosecution, the Russians acted on behalf of Africa Politology, a shadowy network of operatives and intelligence officers in Africa that emerged from the now-defunct Wagner Group, whose founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died in 2023 in a plane crash.

Political operatives linked to Wagner have been active across Africa for more than a decade, in particular in the Central African Republic, Mali, and Madagascar.

The Russians’ defence team says they are not connected to Africa Politology or the Wagner Group, were not acting on behalf of the Russian state, and were instead cooperating to create a cultural “Russian House” in Luanda.

Angola is a top African oil producer and diamond exporter. Its natural resources and strategic position make it a country of continued interest for Moscow. But while ties date back to the Cold War, Angola has been gradually drifting away from Russia’s sphere of influence.

Russian diamond mining company Alrosa and bank VTB were forced to leave Angola due to international sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine war.

Angolan President João Lourenço has pivoted towards the West, and has not met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since 2019.

The Russian operatives in Africa were breaking new ground by moving into Angola, it is claimed.

“This is indicative of Russian anxiety of the direction of travel of Angola under the Lourenço administration,” says Alex Vines, Africa programme director at think-tank European Council on Foreign Relations.

“There’s clearly an element of Russian disinformation to try and build up more sympathy towards the Russian Federation.”

Alongside the Russians, two Angolans will also face trial for their alleged part in the Russian-linked influence operation.

The prosecution alleges the Russians hired sports journalist Amor Carlos Tomé and political activist Francisco Oliveira to conduct their activities in the country.

They are facing nine and five charges respectively, including terrorism, espionage, and influence peddling.

The legal team representing the Angolan defendants say there isn’t sufficient evidence against them and that “the accusation is based on mere conjecture”.

Prosecutors say the first team of Russian operatives arrived in Angola’s capital, Luanda, in 2024 under the pretext of opening a Russian cultural centre, a project that never materialised.

Among the initial arrivals was Maxim Shugalei, a prominent Wagner-linked political operative sanctioned by the European Union (EU) for overseeing disinformation campaigns, whose activities in Africa were turned into a film trilogy, seemingly sponsored by Prigozhin.

He travelled to Angola with his long-term translator, Samer Suaifan. The BBC has contacted both men.

While Suaifan has acknowledged being acquainted with the defendants, Shugalei has denied knowing them.

According to the indictment, during 2024-2025 the defendants made multiple payments to local journalists and experts to disseminate propaganda and disinformation in local media with the goal of “provoking political change”. The payments add up to over $24,000 (£17,900).

Angolan authorities see this work as part of a broader influence operation intended to undermine trust in Western partners and discredit President Lourenço’s foreign policy.

One insider, who previously worked with Prigozhin on African projects, criticised these efforts as amateurish.

“This year [2025] they handed the whole African topic over to some complete idiots. It feels like they were just picked up at the Sadovod market [a street market in Moscow]. And right before New Year they really wanted publications in Angolan media. But I told them all to go to hell,” a political strategist told the BBC, without revealing who the employers were.

The prosecution cites some publications as evidence of the disinformation campaign carried out by the two Russian men.

A January 2025 post on a Facebook page that imitated recognised local news site Angola 24 Horas, calling itself a satirical page, warned that Angola could be drawn into the Ukraine war.

In December 2024 a post on the same page criticised the Lobito Corridor, a Western-backed rail project, which moves minerals from central Africa to Angola’s ports.

The post claimed foreign firms gain near-total access to Angola’s minerals. The BBC contacted the satirical page Angola 24 Horas but did not receive a response.

The post about the Lobito Corridor appeared on news website Lil Pasta News a day later. Another article published by the website speculated whether the country had “signed a pact with the Devil” by joining the project.

Lil Pasta News told the BBC that the articles in question were not written by its team but received through an intermediary. The team said that it had no contact with the author and was not paid for the publication.

The lawyers representing the Russian defendants argue that there is no evidence to suggest that Ratchin commissioned any of the articles.

Angolan prosecutors portray the group as a small but effective network. Ratchin was allegedly at its centre.

He had previously worked on several regional election campaigns in Russia that, as he claimed himself in a video seen by the BBC, ended in victories for his candidates.

Lakshtanov has worked as a translator in Angola since the Soviet era. Prosecutors believe he played a supporting role in the operation, acting primarily as a translator.

The local connection was supposedly provided by Francisco “Buka Tanda” Oliveira, a youth leader for Angola’s main opposition party, Unita, who speaks Russian after having studied chemical engineering in Russia between 2015 and 2019.

The prosecution claims he was tasked with introducing Angolan politicians to the defendants.

“He [Oliveira] doesn’t know this organisation [Politology] and any activity related to this organisation. All he knows is that they wanted to create Russian culture house,” says defence lawyer Pedro Cangombe.

Tomé, a sports journalist at Angolan state TV channel TPA, is accused of gathering information on the country’s political landscape and potential presidential candidates, as well as helping to produce and publish content linked to the alleged influence operation.

The defence for Tomé argues that “none of the subjective or objective elements” of crimes are “minimally” demonstrated in the indictment.

The indictment names six more Russian members of the network who allegedly rotated in and out of Angola at various times in 2024 and 2025.

Angolan authorities also claim in the indictment that Lakshtanov and Ratchin met several senior political figures from both the ruling MPLA party and Unita, offering support and funding for campaign activities.

Most notably, the prosecution alleges they held a meeting with MPLA heavyweight General Higino Carneiro and Unita’s leader Adalberto Costa Junior.

Both are regarded as potential presidential candidates for next year’s election.

Prosecutors claim the Russians offered Carneiro up to $15m (£11m) in campaign support, alongside security assistance, strategic advice, and intelligence gathering.

There was no evidence about this alleged offer in the indictment we have seen.

“I don’t know whether such a meeting took place,” says Elizeu Nguiniti, the lawyer representing Ratchin and Lakshtanov.

Unita representative Jonas Mulato told the BBC that allegations linking the party’s leader to foreign influence operation are false and it had become “increasingly evident” that judicial proceedings were being used for political purposes.

The BBC requested a comment from Carneiro but did not receive a response.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has lost a key referendum on a constitutional reform which had turned into a vote on her government.

The result gives around 54% to the “No” campaign and 46% to the “Yes” vote which Meloni had backed.

In a video posted on social media even before all the ballots were counted, Meloni said Italians had voted “with clarity” and she would respect their decision, but she regretted a “lost chance to modernise” the country.

It is the first significant defeat for Meloni and her right-wing coalition, which has overseen a rare period of political stability for Italy. Opposition parties are hailing the result as a sign that voters are looking for change, with a general election due next year.

When the two-day referendum ended on Monday afternoon, exit polls initially showed the “No” vote leading by a small margin, but that grew to a substantial lead as the count progressed.

Despite the complex question on the ballot paper, turnout was almost 60%. A high figure had been expected to favour the government, but it was not enough to swing the vote.

The reform voters rejected would have inscribed a firm separation between judges and prosecutors into the constitution. It also proposed distinct bodies to govern them and a new disciplinary court.

The government argued the change was critical to improving judicial independence.

The opposition countered that it would shatter a careful balance of powers established following the defeat of fascism, and increase political influence over the courts.

Many Italians struggled to understand the technical details – perhaps a communication failure by Team Meloni – and the vote quickly morphed into a plebiscite on her near-record three and half years in office.

But it fell at a difficult time.

Meloni is a close ally of Donald Trump, but the US president is increasingly unpopular here, as is his war in the Middle East.

And with Italy’s economy already stagnant, many people are concerned about the war’s impact on their energy costs.

Meloni always ruled out stepping down, whatever the result, unlike Matteo Renzi in 2016 who called his own constitutional referendum as prime minister and lost.

“The vote is not about me, but about justice,” Meloni argued ahead of this vote.

After the result became clear, Renzi counselled that her government had now lost its “magic touch” and needed to listen more closely to the voters.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl1ne8dj1eo

Police in Nigeria say 15 people have been arrested following allegations of sexual assault at a community festival in the southern Delta state.

Videos circulated online showing young men openly attacking women who were on their own. The clips sparked widespread anger, leading to the hashtag #StopRapingWomen to trend on social media, and renewed calls for accountability over gender-based violence.

Delta state police have rejected claims circulating online that the Alue-Do festival in Ozoro was a “rape festival”.

Local spokesperson Bright Edafe told Channels TV on Monday that no formal report of rape had been made in connection with the festival.

The videos, taken during the Alue-Do fertility festival in the city of Ozoro, show groups of young men chasing, stripping, grabbing and assaulting women in public spaces, in some cases while people are filming.

The police spokesman described the scenes as “alarming, disgusting and embarrassing” and said they had arrested several suspects identified from the videos and transferred them to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Edafe told Channels: “We have spoken to four girls and all of them said nobody raped them.”

Among those detained is a community leader widely named as the organiser of the event.

The police say investigations are continuing.

Some witnesses, activists and residents say women were warned not to go out during parts of the festival, and that those seen outside were deliberately targeted.

This has raised concerns that sexual violence may have been organised or tolerated under the cover of tradition.

Rights groups say that even if it is not clear whether anyone was raped, the documented acts – including forced stripping, grabbing and public humiliation -constitute serious gender-based violence under Nigerian law.

The King of Ozoro has rejected suggestions that the Alue-Do festival condones sexual assault, describing it as a fertility rite that was “misinterpreted and abused by some youths”.

Traditional leaders also say that no rape occurred. They admit that two women were harassed, but stressing that such acts are criminal, not cultural.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9vn71vjq1o

The rule applies to investigations connected to the financial hub’s strict national security law. Those who fail to comply face up to a year in prison or a fine of over $10,000.

The Hong Kong government on Monday announced that anyone refusing to give up phone or computer passwords in investigations related to national security could face up to a year in prison.

The new rule is part of a raft of amendments to Hong Kong’s national security law, which was imposed by China in 2020 following huge pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous city.

It requires people to provide “any password or other decryption method” necessary to allow police with warrants to access electronic equipment that is believed to hold evidence.

Those who fail to comply could face a fine of up to HK$100,000 ($12,700; €11,000) or a one-year prison sentence.

What does the law say?

The amendment applies to people who are under investigation for endangering national security, as well as anyone who owns, controls, or is authorized to access the equipment in question. It also covers anyone who knows the password or decryption method.

The law stipulates that the obligation applies even where there is a “duty of confidentiality or any other restriction on the disclosure of information,” for example, in cases involving journalists, doctors, and lawyers.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/hong-kong-new-rule-forces-people-to-surrender-passwords/a-76482612

The head of the International Energy Agency said Monday that the global economy faces a “major, major threat” because of the Iran war.

“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” Fatih Birol said at Australia’s National Press Club in Canberra on Monday.

The crisis in the Middle ⁠East, he said, has had a worse impact on oil than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined, and a worse effect on gas than the Russia-Ukraine war.

Israel launched a new wave of attacks early Monday against Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump also warned the United States will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. That prompted Iran to say it would respond to any such strike with attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets.

Trump is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar.

One major fear is that the war could knock out oil and gas production in the Middle East for a long time, which would mean high prices could last a while and cause inflation to rip higher around the world. The U.S. stock market has a history of bouncing back relatively quickly from past conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, as long as oil prices don’t stay too high for too long.

Iran on Monday renewed strikes on its Gulf neighbors and threatened to start hitting their power plants.

“The situation is very severe,” Birol said in Australia.

The oil crises of 1973 and 1979, he said, lost together 10 million barrels per day, causing “major economic problems around the world, the recessions. And today, only as of today, we lost 11 million barrels per day — so more than two major oil shocks put together.”

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said, the gas markets, especially in Europe, “lost about 75 billion cubic meters, 75BCM. And as of now, as a result of this crisis, we lost about 140BCM, almost twice (as much).”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-australia-international-energy-agency-f1e7ccd313263fd63e695f43a2e68165

The European Union and Australia on Tuesday agreed on the final text of a free trade agreement, some two years after negotiations broke down over Australian demands for more red meat market access and complaints about Australian products labeled with traditionally European names such as prosecco.

The breakthrough comes as both the EU and Australia seek to diversify their trading networks and reduce their economic reliance on China and exposure to uncertain U.S. tariffs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the agreement at the Australian Parliament House after protracted negotiations that began in 2018. The leaders said the pact demonstrated that both sides benefitted from rules-based trade.

“Today we are telling an important story to a world that is deeply changing. A world where great powers are using tariffs as a leverage and supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” von der Leyen told reporters.

“In our story, open rules based trade delivers positive some outcomes. Trust matters more than transactions,” she added.

Albanese said the context in which the agreement was reached was an important factor in allowing negotiations that collapsed in October 2023 to restart.

“This is both the European Union and Australia asserting that we believe in free and fair trade, that we understand that trade advances the prosperity of both trading entities who are involved, that it is in our interest to get this done,” Albanese said.

The leaders also announced a new defense partnership that will bring closer military cooperation and the start of negotiations toward Australia becoming an associate of the research and innovation funding program Horizon Europe.

Albanese said the defense partnership would provide a framework for the EU and Australia to cooperate on global challenges, marking as areas of collaboration defense industries, maritime security, cyber security, countering terrorism and combating hybrid threats such as disinformation.

“It shows our shared commitment to global peace and security, including reaffirming our steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion,” Albanese said.

Albanese said the pact also removed tariffs on key Australian exports including wine, seafood and horticulture.

The EU will open two tariff rate quotas of a total of 30,600 metric tons (33,731 U.S. tons) for Australian red meat, with 55% of that duty free.

Under the trade deal, Australian producers of prosecco, traditionally a sparkling wine from northern Italy, will be banned from using the name on exports 10 years after the pact takes effect.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/australia-eu-trade-agreement-china-us-tariffs-0ceec9b36ff1fc5f00500b57b65619ba

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to irreversibly cement his country’s status as a nuclear power while maintaining a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he called the “most hostile” state, state media said Tuesday.

In a speech Monday to Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament, Kim accused the United States of global “state terrorism and aggression,” in an apparent reference to the war in the Middle East, and said the North will play a more forceful role in a united front against Washington amid rising anti-American sentiment. But Kim didn’t call out U.S. President Donald Trump by name and said whether his adversaries “choose confrontation or peaceful coexistence is up to them, and we are prepared to respond to any choice.”

His comments largely aligned with his statements at last month’s ruling Workers’ Party Congress, where he vilified Seoul but left open the door for dialogue with the Trump administration, urging Washington to drop its demands for the North’s nuclear disarmament as a precondition for talks.

State media said the Supreme People’s Assembly, which concluded its two-day session Monday, passed a revised constitution but did not specify the changes. There had been expectations the revisions would codify South Korea as a permanent enemy and remove references to shared nationhood. That’s in line with Kim’s hard-line stance after he declared in 2024 that the North would abandon its long-term goal of a peaceful unification with the South.

Analysts say Kim’s vilification of South Korea reflects his view that Seoul, which helped arrange his first meetings with Trump in 2018 and 2019, is no longer a useful intermediary with Washington but an obstacle to his push for a more assertive regional role. He has also shown sensitivity to South Korean soft power, driving aggressive campaigns to block the influence of its culture and language among North Koreans as he seeks to tighten his family’s authoritarian grip.

In his speech, Kim expressed pride in the country’s rapid expansion of nuclear weapons and missiles in recent years, calling it the “right” choice to counter future threats and “hegemonic pursuits” by “gangsterlike” imperialists, a term the North often uses for the United States and its allies.

“The dignity of the nation, its national interest and its ultimate victory can only be guaranteed by the strongest of power,” Kim said. “The government of our republic will continue to consolidate our absolutely irreversible status as a nuclear power and will aggressively wage a struggle against hostile forces to crush their (anti-North Korean) provocations and schemes.”

Kim has suspended all meaningful dialogue with Washington and Seoul since the collapse of his second summit with Trump in 2019 over U.S.-led sanctions on the North.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-kim-nuclear-seoul-trump-parliament-89e4da24d985fc91f3c223836ab4855f

Senior U.S. and Japanese officials tend to shy away from anything but very careful public comments about Japan’s 1941 sneak attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor. So there was embarrassment, confusion and unease on Saturday in Japan after President Donald Trump casually used the World War II attack to justify his secrecy before launching the war against Iran.

The Japanese discomfort was compounded by the fact that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was sitting awkwardly at Trump’s side as he spoke.

Partly, the reaction is linked to the crucial security and economic role that the U.S. plays for Japan, its top ally in the region. Put simply, Japan needs to make sure the U.S. relationship thrives. That’s why Takaichi was in Washington.

But it’s also a reflection of just how fresh the political debate about Japan’s role in World War II remains here, even 80 years after its end.

Senior leaders, including Takaichi, have argued that Japan has apologized enough for what happened in the war. Takaichi herself has recently hinted at visiting Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are honored among the 2.5 million war dead.

It is, however, somewhat startling for Japan to see these history questions spill over into a White House summit.

On Thursday, when asked by a Japanese reporter why he didn’t tell allies in Europe and Asia ahead of the U.S. attack on Iran, Trump cited Pearl Harbor to defend his decision, saying, ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”

The liberal leaning Asahi newspaper said in an editorial Saturday that Trump’s comments “should not be overlooked.”

“Making such a remark to justify a sneak attack and boast about its outcome is a piece of nonsense that ignores lessons from history,” Asahi said.

Claims of rudeness

Social media reaction has ranged from accusations of ignorance and rudeness by the U.S. president to claims that he didn’t see Japan as an equal partner. There were calls for Japan to protest what Trump said.

Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said in an online opinion piece published in the Nikkei newspaper Saturday that the comment signaled that Trump was “not bound by existing American common sense.”

“I get the impression that the comment was intended to bring the Japanese reporter (who asked the question) or Ms. Takaichi into complicity in order to justify his ‘sneak attack’ on Iran during diplomatic negotiations and without telling allied countries,” Watanabe said.

There’s also a feeling that an unspoken understanding exists between U.S. and Japanese leaders to tread carefully on the subject. Both sides need each other, with Washington relying on Japan to host 50,000 troops and an array of powerful hi-tech weapons, and Japan relying on the U.S. nuclear umbrella to deter hostile, nuclear-armed neighbors.

Japan’s post-World War II constitution bans the use of force except for its self-defense, but Takaichi and other officials are now seeking to expand the military’s role.

When it comes to U.S.-Japan reconciliation, many here look to the example of former leaders Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe, who in 2016 paid tribute together at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and at the Hiroshima Peace Park.

Mixed reaction for Japan’s leader

Takaichi, a hard-line conservative, was praised for not reacting to the comments by Trump, letting them pass with a roll of her eyes and a glance at her ministers seated nearby.

After all, the goal of her summit was to deepen ties with her most important ally, not debate World War II. She arrived shortly after Trump suggested that Japan was among the nations that did not quickly join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Some, however, criticized Takaichi for not speaking up.

Hitoshi Tanaka, a former diplomat and a special adviser at the Japan Research Institute think tank, wrote on X that he felt embarrassed to see Takaichi flattering Trump.

“As national leaders, they are equals. … To make an equal relationship is not to flatter,” he said. “Just doing what pleases Trump and calling it a success if you are not hurt is too sad.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-us-trump-takaichi-japan-pearl-harbor-iran-war-9b3a60e02d384d1e024094e49c1e7f5e

Less than 48 hours before the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone to President Donald Trump about the reasons for launching the kind of complex, far-off war the American leader once had campaigned against.
Both Trump and Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings earlier in the week that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, ​making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike” – an attack against a country’s top leaders often used by Israelis but traditionally less so by the United States.

But new intelligence suggested that the meeting had been moved forward to Saturday morning from Saturday night, according to three people briefed on the call.
The call has not been previously reported.
Netanyahu, ‌determined to move forward with an operation he had urged for decades, argued that there might never be a better chance to kill Khamenei and to avenge previous Iranian efforts to assassinate Trump, these people said. Those included a murder-for-hire plot allegedly orchestrated by Iran in 2024, when Trump was a candidate.
The Justice Department has accused a Pakistani man of trying to recruit people in the United States in the plan, meant as retaliation for Washington’s killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ top commander, Qassem Soleimani.

By the time the call took place, Trump already had approved the idea of the United States carrying out a military operation against Iran but had not yet decided when or under what circumstances the United States would get involved, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
The U.S. military had for weeks built up a presence in the region, prompting many within the administration to conclude it was just ​a matter of when the president would decide to move forward. One possible date, just a few days earlier, had been scuttled because of bad weather.
Reuters was unable to determine how Netanyahu’s argument affected Trump as he contemplated issuing orders to strike, but the call amounted to the Israeli leader’s closing argument to his U.S. counterpart. The three sources briefed on ​the call said they believed it – along with the intelligence showing a closing window to kill Iran’s leader – was a catalyst for Trump’s final decision to order the military on February 27 to move ahead with Operation Epic Fury.

Trump could make history by helping eliminate an Iranian leadership long ⁠reviled by the West and by many Iranians, Netanyahu argued. Iranians might even take to the streets, he said, overthrowing a theocratic system that had governed the country since 1979 and been a leading source of global terrorism and instability ever since.
The first bombs struck on Saturday morning, February 28. Trump announced that evening that Khamenei was dead.
In response to a request for comment, White House spokeswoman Anna ​Kelly did not directly address the call between Trump and Netanyahu but told Reuters the military operation was designed to “destroy the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile and production capacity, annihilate the Iranian regime’s Navy, end their ability to arm proxies, and guarantee that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”

Neither Netanyahu’s office nor Iran’s U.N. representative responded to comment requests.
Netanyahu in a news conference on Thursday dismissed as “fake news” claims ​that “Israel somehow dragged the U.S. into a conflict with Iran. Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do? Come on.”
Trump has said publicly that the decision to strike was his alone.
Reuters reporting, with officials and others close to both leaders speaking mostly on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of internal deliberations, does not suggest that Netanyahu forced Trump to go to war. But the reporting shows that the Israeli leader was an effective advocate and that his framing of the decision – including the opportunity to kill an Iranian leader who allegedly had overseen efforts to kill Trump – was persuasive to the president.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in early March suggested that revenge was at least one motive for the operation, telling reporters, “Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”

JUNE ATTACK TARGETED NUCLEAR, MISSILE SITES

Trump ran his campaign in 2024 based on his first administration’s foreign policy ​of “America First” and said publicly that he wanted to avoid war with Iran, preferring to deal with Tehran diplomatically.
But as discussions over Iran’s nuclear program failed to produce a deal last spring, Trump began contemplating a strike, according to the three people familiar with White House deliberations.
A first attack came in June, when Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and missile sites, and killed several Iranian leaders. U.S. forces ​later joined the attack, and when that joint operation ended after 12 days, Trump publicly reveled in the success, saying the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Yet months later, talks began again between the U.S. and Israel about a second aerial attack aimed at hitting additional missile facilities and preventing Iran from gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon.
The Israelis also wanted to kill Khamenei, a longtime, bitter geopolitical foe who had repeatedly ‌fired missiles into Israel and ⁠supported heavily armed proxy forces encircling the nation. That included the Hamas militant group that launched the surprise attack on October 7, 2023, from Gaza, and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.
The Israelis began to plan their attack on Iran under the assumption they would be acting alone, Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s N12 News on March 5.
But during a December visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Netanyahu told Trump that he was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the joint operation in June, said two people familiar with the relationship between the two leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump indicated he was open to another bombing campaign, the people added, but he also wanted to try another round of diplomatic talks.
Two events pushed Trump toward attacking Iran again, according to several U.S. and Israeli officials and diplomats.
The U.S. operation on January 3 to capture Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas – which resulted in no American deaths while removing from power a longstanding U.S. foe – demonstrated the possibility that ambitious military operations could have few collateral consequences for U.S. forces.
Later that same month, massive anti-government protests erupted in Iran, prompting a vicious response by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing thousands. Trump vowed to help the protesters but did little immediately that was ​public.
Privately, however, cooperation intensified between the Israel Defense Forces and the U.S. military’s Middle East command, ​known as CENTCOM, with joint military planning conducted during secret meetings, according to two Israeli ⁠officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Not long after, during a February visit by Netanyahu to Washington, the Israeli leader briefed Trump on Iran’s growing ballistic missile program, pointing out specific sites of concern. He also laid out the dangers of the ballistic missile program, including the risk that Iran might eventually gain the ability to strike the American homeland, said three people familiar with the private conversations.
The White House did not respond to questions about Trump’s December and February meetings with Netanyahu.

TRUMP’S CHANCE AT HISTORY

By late February, many U.S. officials and regional diplomats considered a U.S. attack on Iran very likely to ​proceed, though the details remained uncertain, according to two other U.S. officials, one Israeli official and two additional officials familiar with the matter.
Trump was briefed by Pentagon and intelligence officials on the potential advantages to be gained from a successful attack, including the decimation of Iran’s missile program, ​according to two people familiar with those briefings.
Before the phone ⁠call between Netanyahu and Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a small group of top Congressional leaders on February 24 that Israel was likely to attack Iran, whether or not the U.S. participated, and Iran would then likely retaliate against U.S. targets, according to three people briefed on the meeting.
Behind Rubio’s warning was an assessment by American intelligence officials that such an attack would indeed provoke counterstrikes from Iran against U.S. diplomatic and military outposts and U.S. Gulf allies, said three sources familiar with U.S. intelligence reports.
This prediction proved accurate. The strikes have led to Iranian counterattacks on U.S. military assets, the deaths of more than 2,300 Iranian civilians and at least 13 U.S. service members, attacks on U.S. Gulf allies, the closure of one of the world’s most vital shipping routes and a historic spike in oil prices that is already being felt by ⁠consumers in the United States ​and beyond.
Trump had also been briefed that there was a chance, even if small, that the killing of Iran’s top leaders could usher in a government in Tehran that was more willing to negotiate with Washington, said two other people ​familiar with Rubio’s briefing.
The possibility of regime change was one of Netanyahu’s arguments in the call shortly before Trump gave final orders to attack Iran, said the people briefed on it.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-approved-iran-operation-after-netanyahu-argued-joint-killing-khamenei-2026-03-23/

Airstrikes targeting a site belonging to Iraq’s Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces in the ​western province of Anbar killed at least ‌10 fighters, including the PMF’s Anbar operations commander, and wounded 30 others, security and health sources told Reuters early ​on Tuesday.
The PMF confirmed in a statement the ​death of its Anbar commander, Saad al-Baiji, and ⁠several of his companions. It accused the United ​States of carrying out the attack, saying a ​U.S. airstrike targeted a command headquarters while personnel were on duty.

The strikes targeted the PMF headquarters during a security meeting attended ​by senior commanders, the sources added.
The PMF, known ​in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of ‌mostly ⁠Shi’ite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.
Tehran-backed armed groups have launched attacks on U.S. ​bases in Iraq ​since the ⁠outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in February, raising fears of a ​wider regional escalation.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/two-iraqs-shiite-popular-mobilization-forces-fighters-killed-airstrikes-western-2026-03-23/

A Colombian military plane crashed in a ​takeoff disaster on Monday, killing 66 people as rescuers shuttled dozens of survivors to nearby hospitals and searched for four ‌who were still missing, according to a top official.
The Lockheed Martin-built (LMT.N), Hercules C-130 transport plane was carrying 128 people, including 11 Air Force members, 115 army personnel and two national police officers, according to Hugo Alejandro Lopez, head of the nation’s armed forces.

The death toll was nearly double that of the previous figure given by ​authorities, who continued search and recovery efforts at the site of the deadly crash.
The accident occurred as the plane was taking ​off from Puerto Leguizamo, on the border with Peru, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X.
The plane was believed ⁠to have suffered an impact near the end of the runway as it was taking off, firefighter Eduardo San Juan Callejas told Caracol, ​with a wing of the plane later clipping a tree as it was plummeting.
The crash caused the plane to catch fire and detonate some ​sort of explosive devices on board, he added.

Residents of the remote area were the first to pull out survivors, with videos showing men speeding down a dirt road with wounded soldiers on the back of their motorcycles.
Military vehicles later arrived, though authorities said the crash site was difficult to reach, impeding rescue efforts.
Lopez said that 57 ​of the survivors had been hospitalized, with 30 of them in non-serious condition at a military clinic.

MODERNIZING THE MILITARY

President Gustavo Petro, in the ​twilight of his administration, on Monday criticized bureaucratic obstacles for delaying his plans to modernize the military.
“I will grant no further delays; it is the lives of ‌our young ⁠people that are at stake,” he said in a post on X. “If civilian or military administrative officials are not up to this challenge, they must be removed.”
Several candidates in Colombia’s upcoming May 31 presidential election offered condolences and called for an investigation.

A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said the company was committed to helping Colombia as it investigates the incident.
Hercules C-130 planes were first launched in the 1950s and Colombia acquired its first models ​in the late 1960s. It has ​more recently modernized some older ⁠C-130s with newer models sent from the U.S. under a provision that allows for the transfer of used or surplus military equipment.
Hercules C-130s are frequently used in Colombia to transport troops as part of the military’s ​operations amid a six-decade-long internal conflict that has claimed more than 450,000 lives.
The tail number of the plane ​that crashed on Monday ⁠matches that of the first of three planes delivered by the U.S. to Colombia in recent years.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/colombian-military-plane-involved-accident-had-110-soldiers-onboard-media-2026-03-23/

US Ambassador Sergio Gor on March 24 announced that Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby will visit India soon, marking his first official trip. Gor said on X he looks forward to welcoming him. The visit comes as New Delhi and Washington seek to strengthen ties amid West Asia conflict and ongoing trade renegotiations, according to reports.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has announced the upcoming visit of top defence official Elbridge Colby to the country.

In a post on the social media platform X, Ambassador Gor expressed his anticipation for the arrival of the United States Under Secretary of War for Policy. “Looking forward to welcoming @USWPColby to India!” he stated.

The visit marks a landmark moment as it is Colby’s first official trip to the country. He is widely regarded as “one of the key figures behind the making of US defence policy” during the second term of the Trump administration.

This high-level mission follows closely on the heels of a series of engagements by other senior American military leaders, including Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo and US Space Command chief General Stephen Whiting.

The timing of the arrival is particularly significant as it coincides with the ongoing conflict in West Asia. The regional war has led to the “choking supply lines of key products such as crude oil, gas, and fertiliser” for India and other Asian nations.

Against this backdrop, the diplomatic outreach comes as New Delhi and Washington intensify efforts to rehabilitate bilateral relations following a period of heightened tension.

These frictions were previously fuelled by trade disputes, the India-Pakistan conflict in May, and India’s procurement of Russian energy.

While the “conclusion of a framework agreement on trade in February” provided a foundation for improved ties, the agreement currently requires renegotiation. This follows a US Supreme Court ruling that declared the “Trump tariffs were illegal,” necessitating a fresh finalisation of the trade pact.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/us-top-defence-official-elbridge-colby-to-visit-india-amid-rising-geopolitical-tensions

US officials believe the war with Iran is unlikely to achieve key objectives such as overthrowing Tehran’s theocratic regime or preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

US officials now believe the ongoing war is unlikely to achieve major strategic objectives that appeared possible at the outset of the US-Israeli military campaign, including overthrowing Iran’s theocratic regime and permanently putting a nuclear weapon out of Tehran’s reach, according to The Washington Post.

The report said reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical conduit for global energy supplies, has emerged as perhaps the paramount objective of the conflict, as security officials reassess what outcomes are realistically achievable.

According to the report, breaking Iran’s stranglehold over the vital shipping lane could allow the United States to wind down the war while claiming a measure of success, ease an expanding global energy crisis and reduce Iran’s leverage as a deterrent against future strikes.

Senior Israeli officials cited by the report suggested that further military action could remain possible if Iran resumes ballistic missile production or moves toward developing a nuclear weapon, underscoring continuing concerns about Tehran’s long-term capabilities.

TRUMP SIGNALS POSSIBILITY OF NEGOTIATED OUTCOME

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington is in contact with an Iranian leader and claimed Tehran is eager to reach a deal to end the war.

He also extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying the country now has an additional five days to comply or face attacks on power plants.

Trump said Iran wants “to make a deal,” adding that there is a “very good chance” an agreement could be reached this week. He said discussions had involved US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, though he did not specify which Iranian official was involved.

Iran denied that negotiations had taken place.

Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said “no negotiations have been held with the US,” adding that “fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets,” according to the Associated Press.

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME REMAINS CENTRAL ISSUE

An Air Canada Express plane, carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday.

An Air Canada flight attendant was reportedly thrown 330 feet from the aircraft while still strapped into her jump seat after the crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday.

Solange Tremblay, the lead flight attendant, suffered multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery, her daughter, Sarah Lepine, told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.

“She was still strapped to her seat” when reached by first responders, Lepine said after speaking to her following the crash.

Her survival is “a total miracle”, she said.

“I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her,” Lepine said.

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane, carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal, collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others.

The fire truck was crossing the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to check on another plane that had aborted its takeoff due to a “strange odour”.

Surveillance footage captured the moment the plane smashed into the vehicle as it crossed its path, sending both hurtling down the runway.

According to air traffic control audio, a controller can be heard telling the craft that a fire truck was en route and clearing a truck to cross a runway. Moments later, he can be heard saying: “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop.”

Roughly 20 minutes later, he appears to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”

Air Canada Passenger Narrates New York Airport Crash

Narrating the deadly Air Canada plane crash, a passenger said the jet hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.

“Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding,” Rebecca Liquori told a news channel.

She said passengers helped each other slide down a wing.

“I’m just happy to be alive,” Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin’s baby shower, said.

“I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I’ve done countless times … ending like this,” she said.

Air Canada Plane Pilots Identified

The two Air Canada pilots have been identified as Antoine Forest and MacKenzie Gunther.

They were both based out of Canada.

Jeannette Gagnier, the great aunt of Antoine Forest, said he always wanted to be a pilot. His LinkedIn page showed he had worked for two airlines in the past five years.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/air-canada-plane-crash-laguardia-airport-solange-tremblay-air-canada-flight-crew-thrown-330-feet-from-plane-strapped-in-seat-survives-11257399?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Valero Energy refinery explosion causes thick smoke; air quality monitoring underway.

A loud explosion was reported at a refinery operated by Valero Energy in Port Arthur, Texas, prompting officials to issue a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents. Thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising into the sky, while videos circulating online captured the sound of a loud blast moments.

The incident is still being investigated. The explosion was reported on March 23 at approximately 7:22 p.m.

Blast, smoke and emergency response

According to The Deep Dive, eyewitnesses described hearing a loud explosion that shook nearby homes, followed by visible flames and dense smoke billowing from the refinery site.

Antonio Mitchell of the Port Arthur Fire Department said, “We don’t have units at the scene currently; they’re en route. The type of incident is unknown at this time.”

Emergency responders, including fire crews and hazmat teams, were deployed to contain the situation. They confirmed an active situation; however, they have not released any detailed information.

So far, no injuries have been recorded, and authorities have stated that evacuations are not currently necessary.

Officials said air quality monitoring is underway to determine whether toxic substances have been released into the surrounding area. The shelter-in-place order will remain in effect until it is deemed safe for residents to resume normal activities.

In order to maintain safety and support emergency operations, the Texas Department of Transportation has also advised drivers to avoid SH 87 and SH 82 in the vicinity of the refinery, the Deep Dive reported.

One of the largest refineries in the US

The Valero Port Arthur Refinery, located on the Texas Gulf Coast about 90 miles east of Houston, is a large operation employing approximately 770 individuals. It can produce 435,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from heavy sour crude oil.

If operations are stopped for an extended period of time at such a crucial energy center, the consequences could be far-reaching for regional fuel supply chains, per the Deep Dive.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/valero-energy-refinery-explosion-videos-fire-smoke-seen-as-texas-plant-blows-up-what-we-know-so-far-101774314047637.html

The White House has reportedly refused to confirm reports of a US-Iran meet in Pak, cautioning against believing speculation before any official announcement.

As the war between Iran and the US entered the fourth week, some reports recently hinted at possible negotiations between the two sides in Pakistan. However, the White House has reportedly refused to confirm the development, cautioning against believing speculation before any official announcement.

News agency ANI said it reached out to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on whether top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, would meet Iranian officials in Islamabad, as reported by some. In response, Leavitt reportedly said: “These are sensitive diplomatic discussions, and the US will not negotiate through the press. This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House.”

What reports said on ‘talks’ in Pakistan

Leavitt’s remarks came after some publications cited officials as saying that talks on ending the Iran-US war that began last month could take place in Islamabad.

While Reuters quoted a Pakistani official and a second source, the Times of Israel quoted Channel 12 as it cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Iran and the US could convene for talks in Islamabad later this week. The Israeli publication said that apart from Vance, US Special Presidential Envoy for Peace Missions, Steve Witkoff and Businessman and former Senior Advisor to US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, would represent the US, and Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf would head the delegation from Tehran.

Notably, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said he spoke with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, promising Islamabad’s help bringing peace to the region.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/iranus-war-resolution-in-pakistan-white-house-reacts-speculation-reports-trump-sharif-mohammad-qalibaf-101774316660029.html

Iran will attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying U.S. bases across the Gulf region if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power network, the ​Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Monday.
They appeared to retract earlier threats to attack desalination plants, which are crucial for providing drinking water in Gulf countries.

“The lying … U.S. president has claimed that the Revolutionary ‌Guards intends to attack the water desalination plants and cause hardship to the people of the countries in the region,” said the statement, shared on state media.

ENERGY CRISIS ‘EXCEEDS THE LAST THREE SHOCKS COMBINED’

Iranian attacks ​have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the resulting energy crisis was worse than the two oil ​shocks of the 1970s and the gas shortage connected to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine put together.

Iran’s Defence Council escalated its threatened retaliation on Monday, saying Tehran would cut ⁠all Gulf routes by laying sea mines if Trump followed through, state media reported.
“Any attempt to attack Iran’s coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf … to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating ​mines that can be released from the coast,” its statement read.
“In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time …”
Iranian media on Sunday quoted the country’s representative to ​the International Maritime Organisation as saying the strait remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”. Indian and Pakistani vessels are among those that have reportedly been allowed safe passage.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.
The threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids on Sunday raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further unsettled oil markets , with prices opening choppy ​in Asian trading.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said that attacks on indispensable civilian infrastructure do not meet the strict definition of military objectives, and amount to war crimes.
After more than three weeks of heavy U.S. and Israeli ​bombardment that officials say has sharply reduced Iran’s missile capabilities, Tehran has continued to demonstrate its ability to strike back.

Air raid sirens sounded across parts of northern and central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, and the occupied West Bank overnight on Sunday, warning of ‌incoming missiles from ⁠Iran.

FEARS OVER DRINKING WATER

The Israeli military said early on Monday it had begun its latest broad wave of strikes on infrastructure in Tehran.
The Washington Post reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “injured, isolated, and not responding to messages directed to him”. An Iranian official said this month that Khamenei was lightly injured.
Khamenei succeeded his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first wave of strikes on February 28, but has not been seen in public since his appointment.
Iranian news agencies said six people had been killed and 43 injured in strikes on residential buildings in the western city of Khorramabad.
The Iranian Red Crescent posted a video of a residential building in affluent northern Tehran with most of its facade ​destroyed and emergency staff rescuing someone on a stretcher from ​the upper floors.
Across the Gulf, the Saudi defence ⁠ministry said two ballistic missiles had been launched towards Riyadh. One was intercepted while the other fell in an uninhabited area.
Trump’s threat to strike Iran’s power network came less than a day after he signalled the United States might be considering winding down the conflict, even as U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft head to the region.
While attacks on electricity could hurt ​Iran, they could be catastrophic for its Gulf neighbours, which consume around five times as much power per capita.
Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by ​powering the desalination plants that produce 100% ⁠of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar. Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80% of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50% of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-threatens-retaliate-against-gulf-energy-water-after-trump-ultimatum-2026-03-23/

The Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping ​except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, Iranian media reports ‌published on Sunday quoted Iran’s representative to the U.N. maritime agency as saying.
Ali Mousavi’s comments came from an interview ​published on Friday by Chinese news agency Xinhua, ​before U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to target ⁠Iranian power plants if the strait was not “fully ​open” within 48 hours.

The threat of Iranian attacks during ​the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth ​of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, ​threatening a global energy shock.
Mousavi, who is also Iran’s ambassador to ‌the ⁠UK, was also quoted as saying that Tehran would continue to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the ​Gulf, adding ​that ships ⁠not belonging to “Iran’s enemies” could pass the strait by coordinating security and safety arrangements ​with Tehran.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-hormuz-open-all-enemy-linked-ships-amid-us-threat-2026-03-22/

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency meeting on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with finance minister Rachel Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey ​in attendance, the government said.
Investors are bracing for another stormy week in financial markets after Iran said it ‌would strike the energy and water systems of Gulf neighbours if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to hit Iran’s electricity grid.

Britain is watching with particular unease. The country’s heavy dependence on imported natural gas, persistently high inflation and stretched public finances have pushed its government bonds ​into a far steeper decline than those of international peers.
“Topics expected to be covered are the economic impact of ​the crisis on families and businesses, energy security and the resilience of industry and supply chains ⁠alongside the international response,” Britain’s finance ministry said ahead of Monday’s so-called “COBRA” meeting.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Energy Secretary Ed ​Miliband will attend as well as Starmer, Reeves and Bailey.

Reeves has said it is too soon to say what the impact ​of the war will be for Britain’s economy and has resisted calls for sweeping cost-of-living measures for households, saying instead that more targeted support is under consideration.

INFLATION SET TO SHOOT HIGHER

The energy price shock threatens to push Britain’s inflation rate back up – possibly to 5% later this year, according ​to some economists – and deal another setback to the slow-growth economy.
It could also knock Reeves off course from her efforts ​to repair the public finances if the oil and gas price surge is sustained and major support measures are required, possibly leading to more ‌tax ⁠increases later this year.
Last week, the government launched a 53 million-pound package for homes that use heating oil to generate warmth.
But the pressure for wider measures has added to the unease of bond market investors.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/uks-starmer-calls-emergency-meeting-economy-iran-war-risks-mount-2026-03-22/

As police for the first time search Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch for evidence of any abuse he may have committed at the Old West-themed hideaway, attention has focused on the powerful former politicians in the state who continued to meet and receive campaign donations from Epstein long after he became a registered ​sex offender.
Epstein’s relationships with state Democratic Party leaders, including two former governors and a state attorney general, and the institutional failings that may have allowed the convicted sex offender to perpetrate abuse at the ranch ‌are under investigation by a New Mexico state “truth commission” – the first of its kind in the country.

Zorro Ranch, where Epstein spent about two months a year, was alleged to be a hub in his sex trafficking of children that stretched between the U.S. Virgin Islands, New York and Florida, according to a 2020 letter, from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office and numerous documents among the millions recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Epstein spent relatively little to establish himself as a major funding force in Democratic-run New Mexico. He donated just over $160,000 across five races between 2002 and 2014 , according to ​interviews and a review of campaign finance records. He was often the biggest outside donor to campaigns, including after his first sex offender conviction in 2008.

Reuters did not find any evidence that Epstein received anything in return for his donations.
Epstein’s ​ties with the late former Governor Bill Richardson have been well reported. The state’s former top law enforcement agent, Gary King, also had contact with Epstein after he was convicted of felony sex ⁠crimes, including meeting him in 2010. Epstein donated to dozens of U.S. politicians, but nearly all of them cut ties with him after the Florida conviction.
“Once you know what’s happened, to continue to take campaign contributions is reprehensible,” U.S. Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez said ​on the sidelines of a March 8 Zorro Ranch protest, when asked about the relationship between Epstein and Richardson and King.
King’s campaign returned a donation in 2014.
Leger Fernandez, who represents the high plains area 30 miles south of state capital Santa Fe, is among those ​questioning why federal, state and local law enforcement never investigated complaints of sexual abuse at the ranch and why federal authorities told, state investigators to drop a child trafficking probe in 2019, but never searched or seized the ranch before its 2023 sale.

King, 71, said he never visited Epstein’s ranch and never asked the late financier for campaign donations after his Florida conviction.
“I personally told Mr. Epstein that the campaign would NOT accept contributions from him as a result of his admitted criminal activities,” King, New Mexico’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015, said in a statement in response to Reuters questions ​about campaign letters, seeking donations from Epstein included in the DOJ files. King said he had no knowledge the letters were sent to Epstein and they appeared to be pro forma mailings to past donors.

“VICTORIA’S SECRET RANCH”

In 1993, Epstein bought 7,500 acres of land from ​three-times New Mexico Governor Bruce King and other members of his powerful New Mexico political family, according to county records. Gary King, who is Bruce King’s son, was one of the parties to the sale. In his statement to Reuters, the younger King said Epstein paid around $3.75 million ‌for the land – ⁠a fair market value at the time, based on New Mexico State University research. Bruce King died in 2009.

Epstein proceeded to build what became known locally as “The Victoria’s Secret Ranch” for the lingerie models rumored to go there, three local people told Reuters.

A master networker, Epstein invited scientists, politicians, billionaires and Hollywood celebrities to the ranch, where some commented, on “the girls,” emails in the Epstein files show.
In 2006, Epstein donated $15,000 to the campaign of Gary King. King told Reuters he did not return that money as, in 2006, he was not aware of any reports of wrongdoing by Epstein.
He recalled meeting, Epstein only once, in 2010 at Santa Fe restaurant Jinja where they drank tea and Epstein expressed his condolences after King’s father died. A 2009 email to Epstein said all Zorro Ranch staff, would attend Bruce King’s funeral ​service. King, who trained as a chemist, said at their meeting ​they briefly discussed Epstein’s interaction with the Santa Fe ⁠Institute, an influential scientific foundation.
When King ran for governor in 2014, Epstein donated, $35,600 to the campaign, the largest outside donation, records show. King returned the 2014 funds to Epstein companies three days after they were reported in the press on September 9 of that year, records show. Around the same time, Epstein, arranged, a September 8 jet charter for King to attend a campaign breakfast, in Washington, according to emails, opens new tabin the DOJ’s ​Epstein files. King’s campaign paid for the flight, according to state records.
“If I had known of Mr. Epstein’s involvement at the time, I would have asked my staff to use another ​charter company to conduct the flight,” said ⁠King, who is retired from politics and now the president of a charity called New Mexico Children’s Foundation.
As attorney general, King said, he ran a robust outreach program to combat crimes against children and human trafficking, and received no information regarding alleged crimes by Epstein. The New Mexico Department of Justice declined to comment.
A document, in the Epstein files shows FBI agents visited the New Mexico ranch in February 2007, when King was in charge of New Mexico law enforcement, and questioned manager Brice Gordon about “masseuses” Epstein flew in or hired locally. Reuters was not able ⁠to contact Gordon. ​King said the U.S. Justice Department never informed his office of any investigation involving Epstein or his associates.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-mexico-investigates-questions-are-raised-about-epsteins-links-powerful-2026-03-21/

At least 10 Palestinians were injured Sunday night in attacks in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, who rampaged through nearby villages after holding a funeral for a settler killed in a car crash a night earlier.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the wounded in Deir al-Hatab included a 45-year-old man shot in the foot and a woman suffering from smoke inhalation. Videos obtained by The Associated Press show cars and homes set ablaze as army flares lit up the sky near the village east of Nablus and next to the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.

The arson and assaults in four Nablus-area villages on Sunday came a day after the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported simultaneous attacks in at least six communities overnight — the latest spates of violence in the occupied West Bank.

Sunday night’s rampage came after mourners in the settlement of Elon Moreh held a funeral for Yehuda Sherman, an 18-year-old Israeli settler. Authorities said he was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle in an area north of the villages attacked. Police said they were investigating the settlers’ claims that the collision was deliberate. Israel’s military did not respond to questions about Sunday night’s attacks.

The violence came as Israel’s government presses ahead with new settlements in the occupied West Bank and attacks by settlers — including arsons, shootings and beatings — have intensified as attention shifts to the Iran war.

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the head of Israel’s military last week condemned such attacks and said it was especially unacceptable during wartime for the military “to confront a threatening minority from within.”

WAFA reported Saturday night’s attacks in the villages of Silat al Dahr and Fandaqumiya, both near Jenin; in Jalud and Salfit, both south of Nablus; and in the agricultural regions Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley. Homes and cars were set ablaze, Palestinians were pepper-sprayed and at least five people were wounded in the overnight assaults, which took place during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the agency said.

Israel’s military said that late Sunday security forces detained five Israeli civilians and confiscated some weapons as they attempted to restore order. It said security forces came under attack from Israeli civilians and a soldier as well as a number of Palestinian civilians were injured.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year as of March 15.

Four Palestinians killed in Gaza

Also on Sunday, four Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

One strike hit a vehicle in the central Nuseirat refugee camp and killed three police officers, according to the Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Ten others were wounded, it said. Another Palestinian was killed in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital.

The deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The US Department of State issued a worldwide security alert Sunday, urging Americans across the globe to be wary of threats from Iran-linked groups.

“The Department of State advises Americans worldwide, and especially in the Middle East, to exercise increased caution. Americans abroad should follow the guidance in security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate,” the State Department said in a statement.

“Periodic airspace closures may cause travel disruptions. U.S. diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted,” the warning continued.

“Groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or locations associated with the United States and/or Americans throughout the world.”

The alert comes after Iranian military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi issued a chilling threat on Friday, warning that Tehran terrorists will now be targeting popular tourism havens as the US and Israel continue their attacks against Iran.

Tensions have escalated across the Middle East after the US and Israel bombed Iran on Feb. 28, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran quickly hurled retaliatory rockets at American interests in the region, with missiles hitting tourist hubs in Dubai and Israel.

A projectile struck the US Embassy in Baghdad last Friday night, hitting a helipad on the sprawling compound that Iranian-backed militants have repeatedly targeted since the conflict in the Middle East began.

Iran on Sunday also vowed to deploy a policy of “zero restraint” and hit energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf as well as banks that do business with the US if President Trump carries out his threat to “obliterate” Tehran’s power plants.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/03/22/world-news/us-issues-worldwide-security-alert-urging-caution-as-iran-linked-groups-may-target-american-interests/

On Saturday, the heart of Seoul turned into a sea of purple.

It was splashed across landmarks, towering billboards, giant screens on high-rises, posters, masks and t-shirts. It was in the display of drone lights on the Han River.

The reason for it was impossible to miss.

“Welcome back BTS,” a banner on a 7-Eleven declared, surrounded by the K-pop act’s signature colour. The world’s biggest band was returning to the stage – after a break of more than three years because of mandatory military service.

“BTS is everything for us,” says Veronica, who along with her friend Amanda flew in from the US to catch Saturday’s show.

The concert was yet to begin. Members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook had not made an appearance, but already, BTS was everywhere.

The megastars of pop were back.

And their “Army”, as their legions of fans call themselves, was ready – happy, singing, screaming, light-sticks in hand. These props can be seen at every K-pop concert but the big bands have their own.

Amanda and Veronica had them too. They wore wide grins and matching purple hanbok, the traditional Korean dress.

The band’s break is what made them seek out other members of the Army. “That’s how we met,” Amanda says.

But it had been a difficult three years, they added, spent yearning for the band to come back.

Finally, the wait was over.

As the sun faded, the square thumped with screams of the crowd. Fans erupted into chants of the seven members’ names.

Then the noise fell away as a deep, resonant toll of the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok rose – a part of “Number 29”, a track in BTS’s new album Arirang.

It rolled across Gwanghwamun Square, lingering – heavy and deliberate – grounding the spectacle in something that felt far older.

And then the seven K-pop stars appeared in front of the medieval gateway to the palace. “Annyeonghaseyo (hello),” the band’s leader RM greeted fans in Korean, before switching to English: “We are back.”

They walked to an impromptu stadium the city had set up in the middle of the square and climbed onto the stage, which resembled a triumphal arch.

It was a striking prelude to “Body to Body”, the album’s first full track, interwoven with Korea’s most iconic folk song and the album’s namesake, Arirang.

As the music swelled, the stage was washed in deep red. The comeback was under way.

And it seemed to win over an uncertain Kim Young-hee: “When I first listened to the album, I thought it was a bit harder to digest than their previous releases, but after seeing them perform live, I realised that BTS never disappoints us.”

There had been growing curiosity about the setlist. While the focus was expected to be on new material, many wondered whether the group would revisit the hits that defined their global rise.

And they did – with “Butter”, “MIC Drop”, “Dynamite” and “Mikrokosmos” igniting instant recognition, lifting the crowd into a shared, euphoric chorus.

Thousands of light-sticks shifted colour in the dark, moving in rhythm and revealing the size of the crowd, which had filled the square.

It was far below the 250,000 authorities had said they were expecting. But it was certainly in the tens of thousands.

Seoul had gone big for this moment, turning its centre into a giant K-pop stage for the first time ever.

Inspired by the South Korean flag, the stage stood with the Gwanghwamun gate as its backdrop, framed by the mountains – a strikingly Seoul scene.

“I’m deeply honoured to perform at Gwanghwamun, the most historic place in South Korea,” Suga said. “We named the album Arirang and chose Gwanghwamun as the venue to reflect our identity.”

It was a rare honour. And the band knew it, taking turns to thank the city and its officials.

But the decision had also drawn criticism. People questioned the need to direct so many resources – the public space, the thousands of police for crowd and safety management – for a show streamed live exclusively on Netflix.

“They’ve pulled in police and fire personnel en masse. If something happens elsewhere, there may be no staff left to respond, and access could be blocked because of the controls,” one user wrote on X.

In another post, pop music critic Jung Min-jae said: “If a comeback concert of this scale, one that effectively paralyses parts of the city centre, is allowed, then other artists or agencies may well request to use the same space in the future.

“At that point, on what criteria will the Seoul Metropolitan Government approve or reject such requests?”

But the government argued this was BTS, returning to reclaim their spot at the top of an industry that has shaped them as much as they have shaped it.

The band exploded after its debut in 2013. Their albums – a mix of pop, hip hop and R&B – have hit the number one spot in the Billboard charts multiple times, while their choreographed performances have packed stadiums around the world.

They were the first K-pop group to headline at Wembley – they “broke the wall”, as RM himself put it.

BTS, which has addressed the UN and been invited to the White House, has become the face of South Korea’s soft power.

So this remarkable, slightly contentious, comeback party is a reflection of the band’s place in South Korean minds, according to music critic Lim Hee-yun.

Although South Korea was now one of the world’s wealthiest nations, the country at times had felt culturally inferior to the West, Lim said.

“Then we saw blue-eyed Westerners, tens of thousands of them gathered in a stadium. Crying and singing along to BTS. It’s the ultimate kookbbong,” he said, referring to a Korean saying comparing intense national pride to drugs.

Be it hiatus or retirement, they would remain legendary, according to Lim: “Like the Beatles.”

On Saturday, it was clear how the high the stakes were – for the band, which was returning to so much expectation and hype, but also the government, which had provided a stage it hoped would boost South Korea’s global brand.

There were 22,000 free seats available inside the concert venue, in front of the stage. The other spectators watched the show on a dozen screens installed further down the road, all the way to the main thoroughfare blocks away.

Many were foreigners. Some told the BBC they had flown thousands of miles just to watch BTS on screen, if not on stage. Some had begun learning Korean, and even moved here, after joining the fandom.

K-pop fandom is unlike any other, and BTS is perhaps the biggest example of that.

“This comeback, after so many years, means a lot to me,” said Golnar Taheri, who has been a fan since the debut of BTS thirteen years ago. “I feel like I can live my life with more energy.”

Throughout the show, the seven K-pop stars thanked the “Army” again and again.

“Thank you for waiting, Army,” Jin declared, slipping into English.

The fans had their own message: screams, cheers, tears. Many of those who turned up today couldn’t wait for more. “It was a crazy experience…It was just like a dream, and I can’t still believe it [happened],” Azadeh Zamani said.

A grand world tour follows: 34 stops and 88 shows, which is expected to rake in billions of dollars in revenue.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj371jr203ko

Major stock markets in Asia slumped on Monday after Washington and Tehran threatened to escalate hostilities, as the US-Israel war with Iran enters its fourth week.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was almost 3.5% lower, while South Korea’s Kospi fell by 6.5%.

US President Donald Trump warned on Saturday he would “obliterate” Iranian power plants if Iran did not open the key Strait of Hormuz shipping route. Iran said it would respond to any such strikes by targeting key infrastructure in the region, including energy facilities.

Japan and South Korea have been particularly affected by the conflict, as they are heavily dependent on oil and gas that would normally pass through the strait.

Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels, since the US and Israel attacked the country on 28 February.

About 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes through the waterway — and the war has sent global fuel prices soaring.

On Monday, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said that the war could see the world facing its worst energy crisis in decades.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Australia’s capital, Birol compared the current energy crisis to those of the 1970s and the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“This crisis as things stand is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together,” he said.

In a social media post published at 23:44 GMT Saturday, Trump said: “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

That threat came after Iranian missiles hit the Israeli city of Dimona, and shortly before a second attack on the town of Arad nearby.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said on Sunday that energy and desalination infrastructure in the region would be “irreversibly destroyed” if his country’s power plants were attacked.

Such action would significantly escalate the conflict, which has already disrupted global energy supplies, pushing up prices and causing fuel shortages.

Simon Flowers, chairman and chief analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said the markets were waiting to see if the threats were “carried through”.

“If the US does strike Iranian infrastructure, it escalates the whole intensity of the war a step further and then we’d have to see if Iran strikes back at infrastructure tit-for-tat as they’ve done over the last week or so,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

Global oil prices rose on Monday, with Brent crude climbing more than 1% to above $113.40 (£85.30) a barrel and US-traded oil was up more than 2% at $100.50.

The jump in oil and gas prices since the start of the conflict has raised fears of a sharp increase in domestic energy bills in the UK later this year.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czex56kwxxzo

The World Health Organization’s chief said nearly 90 others were wounded in the attack on a hospital in east Darfur.

The dead from Friday’s attack include 13 children, medical staff and multiple patients, WHO director-general Tedros ​Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday night.

WHO chief pleas for end of Sudan war

In a post on X, Tedros said the attack on the Al Deain Teaching Hospital had rendered it “non-functional.”

He said 89 people had also been wounded in the attack, which rights group Emergency Lawyers attributed to a Sudanese army drone strike.

Tedros said that more than 2,000 people have now been killed in over 200 attacks on health facilities since the start of the civil war in Sudan in April 2023.

“Enough blood has been spilled. Enough suffering has been inflicted. The time has come to de-escalate the conflict in Sudan and ensure the protection of civilians, health workers, and humanitarians,” the WHO director said.

“Health care should never be a target. Peace is the best medicine,” he added.

Hundreds of thousands killed, millions displaced

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, when a power struggle over the integration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the Sudanese army escalated.

Global aid organizations estimate that up to 250,000 people have been killed so far, while up to 14 million people have been displaced, and about half of the country’s population faces hunger.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/sudan-over-60-killed-in-strike-on-east-darfur-hospital-who-says/a-76471162

IT’S been 50 days since Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona.

Mystery continues to shroud the investigation as the desperate search for her drags closer to its third month.

Is Nancy alive?

It’s unknown whether Nancy, 84, could be alive, as there’s been no sign of her since she was dropped off at home by her family following a dinner.

After she vanished on February 1, spatters of her dried blood were seen outside her front door, leading to her driveway.

When she first disappeared, authorities made it clear she had physical health issues that required daily medications.

They said that, without the medicine, her situation could prove fatal.

Savannah and her siblings have insisted they’re holding out hope for a miracle.

But in one update, the Today anchor admitted that her mom may already be gone and “dancing in heaven.”

Who is the masked man?

The identity of the masked suspect who was spotted outside Nancy’s home the night of her disappearance also still remains a mystery.

Detectives have released surveillance footage and begged for tips, but they have only released a vague description: a man of average height and build.

Neighbors living in Nancy’s quiet Tucson neighborhood have been urged to check surveillance cameras for any of the suspect’s movements.

Detectives confirmed the suspect was wearing a 25-liter, black Ozark Trail backpack that’s exclusively sold at Walmart.

However, cops later said it wasn’t purchased directly from the retailers, suggesting it was likely obtained secondhand.

Nearby residents continue to report suspicious activity in their neighborhood in the days leading up to Nancy’s kidnapping, but the search for the suspect continues.

Was the masked man alone?

Experts have also questioned whether multiple suspects were involved in Nancy’s abduction.

Some have speculated that at least two people would be needed to take her from her bed and escape without being detected.

But cops haven’t named any other suspects outside the masked man.

Speaking with The U.S. Sun, top security expert Brian Fitzgibbons said the suspect’s laid-back behavior in the surveillance could indicate he had an accomplice watching out nearby.

“The level of detail done to hide his identity and to limit leaving any DNA at the scene leads me to believe that this person was not acting alone,” he said.

Was Nancy targeted?

Because of Nancy’s relationship with Savannah, some have asked whether she was specifically targeted.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who is leading the investigation, said he does believe Nancy was targeted and has an idea about the motivation.

“We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted,” he previously told NBC News.

“But we can’t, we’re not 100% sure of that.”

He also voiced his fears that the at-large suspect could strike again, and urged Tucson residents to keep their wits about them.

“It’d be silly to tell people, ‘Yeah don’t worry about it, you’re not his target.’” he said.

“Don’t think for a minute that because it happened to the Guthrie family, you’re safe.

“Keep your wits about you.”

Were the ransom notes real?

It’s still unclear whether any of the alleged ransom notes sent to newsrooms across the US are legitimate.

Several of the notes demanded a Bitcoin payout and provided account information for a transfer.

Nancy’s family and investigators have acknowledged their existence, but it’s unknown whether they made contact with abductors.

In one video posted by Savannah on February 7th, she appeared to address the kidnapper directly, saying, “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.

“This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

The Guthrie family is offering a $1 million payout to anyone who can lead them to Nancy.

Was the investigation bungled?

Concerns have mounted that the investigation led by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department was mismanaged.

Sheriff Nanos, who has come under fire for his handling of the case, is now facing a recall effort from angry local politicians.

Congress hopeful Daniel Butierez is spearheading the effort, telling local media he’s already amassed a swath of signatures.

He previously said, “He’s pretty well proven to not only us, but the entire nation that he’s not the guy for the position.

“So, I just think we need to move on and get someone else in there that’s more qualified.”

Nanos was also scrutinized over being ousted from his first job at the El Paso Police Department when he was younger due to behavioral issues.

He racked up a lengthy list of violations and was forced to either quit or be fired, police records seen by local outlets show.

Nanos recently said he would respect the democratic process regarding the recall effort – but the department has publicly stood by his side.

A spokesperson previously told The U.S. Sun that Nanos “has dedicated more than four decades to law enforcement and public service.

“Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to professionalism, accountability, and the safety of the communities he serves,” they wrote.

“As Sheriff of Pima County, he continues to lead the department with experience, integrity, and a clear focus on protecting the residents of Pima County.”

Source :https://www.the-sun.com/news/16108459/nancy-guthrie-50-days-missing-mystery-update/

North Korea has re-elected Kim Jong Un as president of state affairs, state media reported on Monday (Mar 23).

Kim’s reappointment as head of the authoritarian nation’s highest policymaking and governing body, the State Affairs Commission, was announced by the state news agency KCNA.

Critics argue that elections in North Korea are pre-determined and designed to give the country’s leadership a veneer of democratic legitimacy.

“The Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK re-elected Comrade Kim Jong Un as President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the First Session, the first state affairs activity of its 15th term, on Mar 22,” KCNA reported.

The report said the decision to re-elect Kim to the “top post” reflected “the unanimous will and desire of all the Korean people”.

Kim is the third-generation ruler of the nuclear-armed state founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1948. He has ruled the country since his father’s death in 2011.

The election is a “highly choreographed event with a pre-determined outcome”, said Lee Ho‑ryung of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

“Throughout the third-generation rule, the North has staged such events to showcase a procedure in an attempt to achieve political legitimacy,” she said.

“But no one thinks any different outcome would emerge from it.”

Photos released by KCNA show Kim dressed in a formal western suit and seated at the centre of a stage, flanked by top officials in front of two giant statues of his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather.

BAROMETER

Prior to the event, 687 deputies were elected to the SPA, with North Koreans over 17 given the choice of approving or rejecting the sole candidate put forward by the ruling party.

The new deputies were duly approved with 99.93 per cent of votes in favour and 0.07 per cent against, KCNA reported earlier, with turnout at 99.99 per cent.

The Pyongyang assembly hall was “full of the extraordinary political awareness and revolutionary enthusiasm” by the newly elected members, it said.

Analysts say the current assembly session may also take up possible constitutional amendments that could include formally codifying inter-Korean relations as those between “two hostile states”.

The language Kim uses to describe his stance towards South Korea in his assembly speech will be a “barometer” of his inter-Korea plans, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-reelected-president-6010571

Zelenskyy has urged the US to keep pressure on Russia as Washington temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil.

Ukrainian and US delegations concluded a second day of talks in Florida on finding ways to end the four-year war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday (Mar 22).

Russian representatives were not present at the talks, which opened in Florida on Saturday. They were originally expected to attend the negotiations, which were due to take place in Abu Dhabi.

The US team is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

“It is clear that the US side’s attention at the moment is focused primarily on the situation surrounding Iran and the wider region, but Russia’s war against Ukraine must also be brought to an end,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address.

“There are indications that further (prisoner of war) exchanges may take place, which would indeed be very good news and confirmation that diplomacy is working. We hope this will come to fruition,” he added.

Zelenskyy did not specify whether the talks would continue, when or where they might take place, or in what format.

Earlier on Sunday he urged allies to keep up sanctions pressure on Russia and called for tougher action against Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to avoid sanctions, and for Moscow to be denied oil revenues.

“Russia’s shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters or anywhere else. Tankers that serve the war budget can and must be stopped and blocked, not just let go,” he added.

Washington has temporarily lifted some sanctions on Russian oil to help cope with supply shortages caused by war in Iran. European countries have not done so.

PEACE WON THROUGH WAR

A peace plan being promoted by the US would require a presidential election in Ukraine, alongside territorial concessions. Zelenskyy, whose term has already expired, is under renewed pressure from Trump to hold a vote as Washington pushes Kyiv towards a peace deal.

Ukrainian law bars wartime elections, but Zelenskyy has said Ukraine would be ready to hold democratic elections if the US secured a two-month ceasefire to allow time to prepare infrastructure and put security guarantees in place.

Ukraine’s former top general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to Britain and seen as a potential presidential candidate, said Ukraine did not need a pause in fighting to vote.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/new-pow-exchange-possible-ukraine-and-us-conclude-peace-talks-6010171

Leon Panetta, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Pentagon under former president Barack Obama, has singled out US President Donald Trump as the only man responsible for the current situation

Three weeks after launching strikes on Iran, the US finds itself staring at a strait it cannot open, allies it cannot call in, and a ceasefire it cannot negotiate. Leon Panetta, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Pentagon under former president Barack Obama, has singled out US President Donald Trump as the only man responsible for the current situation.

In an interview with The Guardian, Panetta explained how the world’s most powerful military walked into a predicament its own commander-in-chief appears unprepared to walk out of. Panetta had overseen the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes, is now effectively closed. Iran, after losing its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to an Israeli strike on February 28, the opening blow of what Trump called an “excursion”, has used the waterway as leverage. Oil prices have surged, but Trump’s approval numbers have not.

Panetta told the British publication this was not an unforeseeable consequence.

“In every national security council I’ve been a part of where we’ve talked about Iran, that subject always came up.” That the Trump administration apparently never prepared for it amounted to a failure of basic strategic planning, he said.

The war has produced outcomes the opposite of what was intended. Khamenei’s successor is his son, Mojtaba, who is younger, harder and less likely to negotiate. “We have a younger supreme leader who’s going to be there a while,” Panetta said. “He’s much more of a hardliner than the first supreme leader.”

Trump appears to be isolated. While he has spent much of his presidency treating NATO as a burden and allies as freeloaders, he is discovering that alliances are not built on demand. No major NATO country has publicly committed to sending ships after Trump asked other nations to help reopen the strait. Trump has since branded NATO a “paper tiger” and its members “cowards”, while at the same time needing them.

Panetta told The Guardian that going to war without consulting allies was self-defeating as Trump found himself appealing to the very countries he had alienated. The US president today threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless the strait is fully reopened within 48 hours. The war in its fourth week shows no sign of resolution and no clear exit ramp.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-iran-war-cia-ex-chief-leon-panetta-who-hunted-bin-laden-has-a-hormuz-advice-for-donald-trump-11251233?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Scott Bessent says the United States can fund its war with Iran but seeks 200 billion supplemental from Congress for future readiness amid resistance in Congress.

The United States has sufficient funds to sustain its ongoing war effort against Iran, but is seeking additional “supplemental” funding from Congress to ensure long-term military readiness, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Bessent emphasised that the request is aimed at strengthening future preparedness rather than addressing any immediate funding shortfall.

“We have plenty of money to fund this war. This is supplemental,” he said, adding that President Donald Trump wants to ensure the military remains “well supplied going forward.”

The proposed request, reportedly around $200 billion, has already triggered resistance in Congress. Lawmakers, including Democrats and some Republicans, have questioned the need for additional funds, pointing to already high defence spending approved in recent years.

Notably, the Trump administration has yet to formally submit the funding request to Congress, and officials have indicated that the final amount could still change.

Backing the move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the additional funding is necessary “to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, and for what we may have to do in the future.”

Bessent also firmly ruled out any tax increases to finance the war, dismissing such suggestions as “ridiculous” and stating they are “not at all” under consideration.

Early estimates indicate the conflict could become one of the costliest US military engagements since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Administration officials have told lawmakers that the first six days of operations alone cost over $11 billion.

This comes despite already record-breaking defence budgets. The Republican-led Congress recently passed the Fiscal 2026 Defense Appropriations Act, allocating around $840 billion. Additionally, a sweeping tax-cut and spending package last year included $156 billion for defence.

Addressing concerns over rising oil prices, Bessent also defended the administration’s decision to ease sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil. He argued that allowing more countries such as Japan and South Korea to purchase oil would stabilise global markets and prevent prices from surging to $150 per barrel.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/plenty-of-money-us-says-it-can-absorb-iran-war-costs-without-raising-taxes-ws-l-9991396.html

U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran threatened to escalate their war, targeting energy and fuel facilities in the Gulf, which could again roil global energy ​and financial markets and deepen a regional crisis.
Trump on Saturday threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a significant escalation barely ‌a day after he talked about “winding down” the war, now in its fourth week.

Iran warned on Sunday it would target U.S. infrastructure, including energy facilities in the Gulf, if Trump carried out his threat, which he made as U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft continue to head to the region.
More than 2,000 people have been killed during the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, spiked fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.

‘TICKING TIME BOMB’ FOR MARKETS

“President Trump’s ​threat has now placed a 48-hour ticking time bomb of elevated uncertainty over markets. If the ultimatum is not walked back, we will likely see a Black Monday reopening of global equity markets in ​free fall and oil prices spiking significantly higher,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.

Tehran would likely target Gulf energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and ⁠Qatar, which “would deepen and prolong the pain of higher energy prices and drag the conflict into a broader regional crisis”, Sycamore said. Oil prices jumped on Friday and settled at their highest in nearly four years, after Iraq ​declared force majeure on all oilfields developed by foreign firms, Israel attacked a major gas field in Iran and Tehran responded with strikes on neighbours, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, ​a narrow choke point that carries around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, causing the worst oil crisis since the 1970s. Its near-closure sent European gas prices surging as much as 35% last week.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump posted on social media around 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT) ​on Saturday.
Hours later, Iran’s representative to the U.N. maritime agency said the strait remained open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”.
Ali Mousavi, Tehran’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation, said passage through the narrow waterway was ​possible by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.
Ship-tracking data has shown some vessels, such as Indian-flagged ships and a Pakistani oil tanker, have managed to negotiate safe passage through the strait. Pakistan has good ties with Iran while maintaining close ‌relations with the ⁠U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Trump’s idea in targeting Iranian infrastructure is to make the Hormuz blockade “economically and politically unbearable for Tehran, without destroying Iranian oil fields that would cause long-term global supply damage,” Sycamore said.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters said if the U.S. attacked Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure, Iran would target all U.S. energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure in the region.
The Islamic republic’s power grid is deeply intertwined with its energy sector. Striking major plants could trigger blackouts, crippling everything from pumps and refineries to export terminals and military command centres.
Iran’s largest power plants include the Damavand facility near Tehran, the Kerman plant in the southeast and Ramin in Khuzestan province, all of ​which have much greater generation capacity than Iran’s sole ​nuclear plant at Bushehr on the southern coast.

IRAN ⁠EXPANDS RISKS WITH LONG-RANGE MISSILES

Tehran fired long-range missiles for the first time on Saturday, expanding the risk of attacks beyond the Middle East, while an Iranian strike landed near Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor about 13 km (8 miles) southeast of Dimona.
Iran launched two ballistic missiles with a range of 4,000 km (2,500 miles) at the U.S.-British military base at Diego ​Garcia in the Indian Ocean, said Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir.
“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range reaches European capitals – Berlin, Paris, and Rome ​are all within direct threat ⁠range,” Zamir said in a statement.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it was striking Tehran just hours after Iran’s attacks on southern Israel.
Trump and his administration have sent mixed messages about U.S. goals throughout the war, leaving allies struggling to respond.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-threatens-iran-with-power-plant-strikes-over-hormuz-blockade-2026-03-22/

As police for the first time search Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch for evidence of any abuse he may have committed at the Old West-themed hideaway, attention has focused on the powerful former politicians in the state who continued to meet and receive campaign donations from Epstein long after he became a registered ​sex offender.
Epstein’s relationships with state Democratic Party leaders, including two former governors and a state attorney general, and the institutional failings that may have allowed the convicted sex offender to perpetrate abuse at the ranch ‌are under investigation by a New Mexico state “truth commission” – the first of its kind in the country.

Zorro Ranch, where Epstein spent about two months a year, was alleged to be a hub in his sex trafficking of children that stretched between the U.S. Virgin Islands, New York and Florida, according to a 2020 letter, from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office and numerous documents among the millions recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Epstein spent relatively little to establish himself as a major funding force in Democratic-run New Mexico. He donated just over $160,000 across five races between 2002 and 2014 , according to ​interviews and a review of campaign finance records. He was often the biggest outside donor to campaigns, including after his first sex offender conviction in 2008.

Reuters did not find any evidence that Epstein received anything in return for his donations.
Epstein’s ​ties with the late former Governor Bill Richardson have been well reported. The state’s former top law enforcement agent, Gary King, also had contact with Epstein after he was convicted of felony sex ⁠crimes, including meeting him in 2010. Epstein donated to dozens of U.S. politicians, but nearly all of them cut ties with him after the Florida conviction.
“Once you know what’s happened, to continue to take campaign contributions is reprehensible,” U.S. Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez said ​on the sidelines of a March 8 Zorro Ranch protest, when asked about the relationship between Epstein and Richardson and King.
King’s campaign returned a donation in 2014.
Leger Fernandez, who represents the high plains area 30 miles south of state capital Santa Fe, is among those ​questioning why federal, state and local law enforcement never investigated complaints of sexual abuse at the ranch and why federal authorities told, state investigators to drop a child trafficking probe in 2019, but never searched or seized the ranch before its 2023 sale.

King, 71, said he never visited Epstein’s ranch and never asked the late financier for campaign donations after his Florida conviction.
“I personally told Mr. Epstein that the campaign would NOT accept contributions from him as a result of his admitted criminal activities,” King, New Mexico’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015, said in a statement in response to Reuters questions ​about campaign letters, seeking donations from Epstein included in the DOJ files. King said he had no knowledge the letters were sent to Epstein and they appeared to be pro forma mailings to past donors.

“VICTORIA’S SECRET RANCH”

In 1993, Epstein bought 7,500 acres of land from ​three-times New Mexico Governor Bruce King and other members of his powerful New Mexico political family, according to county records. Gary King, who is Bruce King’s son, was one of the parties to the sale. In his statement to Reuters, the younger King said Epstein paid around $3.75 million ‌for the land – ⁠a fair market value at the time, based on New Mexico State University research. Bruce King died in 2009.

Epstein proceeded to build what became known locally as “The Victoria’s Secret Ranch” for the lingerie models rumored to go there, three local people told Reuters.

A master networker, Epstein invited scientists, politicians, billionaires and Hollywood celebrities to the ranch, where some commented, on “the girls,” emails in the Epstein files show.
In 2006, Epstein donated $15,000 to the campaign of Gary King. King told Reuters he did not return that money as, in 2006, he was not aware of any reports of wrongdoing by Epstein.
He recalled meeting, Epstein only once, in 2010 at Santa Fe restaurant Jinja where they drank tea and Epstein expressed his condolences after King’s father died. A 2009 email to Epstein said all Zorro Ranch staff, would attend Bruce King’s funeral ​service. King, who trained as a chemist, said at their meeting ​they briefly discussed Epstein’s interaction with the Santa Fe ⁠Institute, an influential scientific foundation.
When King ran for governor in 2014, Epstein donated, $35,600 to the campaign, the largest outside donation, records show. King returned the 2014 funds to Epstein companies three days after they were reported in the press on September 9 of that year, records show. Around the same time, Epstein, arranged, a September 8 jet charter for King to attend a campaign breakfast, in Washington, according to emails, in the DOJ’s ​Epstein files. King’s campaign paid for the flight, according to state records.
“If I had known of Mr. Epstein’s involvement at the time, I would have asked my staff to use another ​charter company to conduct the flight,” said ⁠King, who is retired from politics and now the president of a charity called New Mexico Children’s Foundation.
As attorney general, King said, he ran a robust outreach program to combat crimes against children and human trafficking, and received no information regarding alleged crimes by Epstein. The New Mexico Department of Justice declined to comment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-mexico-investigates-questions-are-raised-about-epsteins-links-powerful-2026-03-21/

Cuba on Friday rejected any suggestion that its political system or ​the term of its president were subject to negotiation in talks with the United States, following reports that Washington sought ‌to remove Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel from power.
“I can categorically confirm that … the political system of Cuba is not up for negotiation, and of course neither the president nor the position of any official in Cuba is subject to negotiation with the United States,” Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told a press conference.

Cuba said ​a week ago that it had entered talks with the U.S. government as an oil blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump ​pushes the Communist-run nation deeper into economic crisis, and as Trump has said he can do “anything I want” ⁠with Cuba, a sovereign neighbor.
Speaking later to a group of foreign activists bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba, Diaz-Canel said Cuba was preparing for a ​possible U.S. “aggression.”
“We’re not just crossing our arms. In the first place, we recognize that there could be aggression against Cuba,” said Diaz-Canel, who has ​struck a more defiant tone recently.

He said on social media on Tuesday that “any external aggressor will face an impenetrable resistance.”
USA Today, citing two sources with knowledge of the Trump administration’s plans, reported before Cuba’s announcement that Trump was preparing an economic deal with Cuba that would relax trade restrictions but include an “off-ramp” for Diaz-Canel.
The New ​York Times, citing four people familiar with the talks, later reported that the Trump administration was seeking to push Diaz-Canel from power with two ​years remaining on his term as president and five years left as leader of the Communist Party.

Both reports said the U.S. proposal would leave untouched the family ‌of former ⁠presidents Fidel and Raul Castro. Fidel Castro died in 2016 but Raul Castro, 94, remains highly influential eight years after handing the presidency over to Diaz-Canel, 65.

Such a deal would resemble what has happened in Venezuela, where the United States deposed President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Rather than attempt to install an opposition government, the U.S. has cooperated with acting President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president who took power when U.S. forces ​whisked away Maduro in an early ​morning raid.

AUTHORITY SPREAD WIDELY

Authority in ⁠Cuba is spread widely among senior Communist Party leaders, other government officials and the armed forces, unlike the concentration of power that characterized the Castro years from the start of the 1959 revolution until Diaz-Canel’s term ​began in 2018.
De Cossio, who has led the foreign ministry’s office on U.S. relations, declined to offer further ​details of the ⁠bilateral discussions, leaving unanswered the questions of where and when they are taking place.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-says-its-presidents-term-not-subject-negotiation-talks-with-us-2026-03-20/

The teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has driven a tank during army training supervised by her father, the pair’s latest joint public appearance fueling outside speculation that the girl is groomed as Kim’s heir.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that Kim oversaw an offensive tactical drill involving tank units and infantry troops a day earlier and called for completing war preparations.

Video and images released by state media showed Kim’s daughter sticking her head out of the driver’s hatch of a moving, olive green tank while her smiling father sat on top with three soldiers.

Observers say the girl’s position clearly showed she was driving the armored vehicle, her first such activity. But they note modern tanks are not technically complicated to pilot, especially while moving slowly for a brief time.

“She only drove straight at a low speed. It’s also easy to drive modern tanks, and I think it was easier for her to drive as she was on a flat ground,” said Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea.

The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged about 13, has accompanied her father to a number of high-profile military and other events since late 2022. North Korean state media has called her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and published footage and photos indicating the two’s closeness.

They recently fired pistols during a visit to a light munitions factory and watched a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems. In September, the girl went to Beijing with her father. During New Years’ Day celebrations she kissed him on the cheek.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-kim-daughter-tank-4b33005ec1153cb876dcbf5cd77d2b20

South Korean rescue workers on Saturday recovered the remains of 14 people from the charred wreckage of an auto parts factory in the central city of Daejeon, where an explosion and fire injured at least 59 others.

Fire officials said 25 people were seriously injured but it wasn’t immediately clear whether any were in life-threatening condition. More than 500 firefighters, police and emergency personnel were deployed to contain the fire and conduct rescue operations after it broke out Friday afternoon.

Videos and photos from the scene showed thick gray smoke billowing from the complex and some workers jumping from a building belonging to Anjun Industrial.

Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok district, said the blaze destroyed a factory building that firefighters initially could not enter over fears it might collapse. Searches for the missing workers began late Friday after officials deployed unmanned firefighting robots to cool the structure and conducted a safety inspection.

Nine of the 14 dead were discovered in what is believed to have been a gym on the third floor, while three were found near a water tank on the second floor. All the missing have now been accounted for.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited the site Saturday afternoon, meeting with relatives of the victims and calling for safety measures to prevent the damaged structure from collapsing during search operations.

The fire was reported at about 1:18 p.m. Friday. Nam said the cause was not immediately known, but the blaze appeared to have spread rapidly, with witnesses reporting an explosion. Firefighters focused on preventing the blaze from spreading to an adjacent facility and isolating explosive chemicals. Nam said workers recovered more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of highly reactive chemicals from the site.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-fire-auto-parts-plant-daejeon-9156bc6276551b8906cad98b66f7c95c

The second-longest-serving director in FBI history, behind only J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller held the job until 2013

Robert S Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.

Trump posted on social media about Mueller’s death: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” The Republican president added, “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

Later, he was special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump posted on social media about Mueller’s death: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” The Republican president added, “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The second-longest-serving director in FBI history, behind only J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller held the job until 2013 after agreeing to Democratic President Barack Obama’s request to stay on even after his 10-year term was up.

After several years in private practice, Mueller was asked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to return to public service as special counsel in the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Mueller’s stern visage and taciturn demeanor matched the seriousness of the mission, as his team spent nearly two years quietly conducting one of the most consequential, yet divisive, investigations in Justice Department history. He held no news conferences and made no public appearances during the investigation, remaining quiet despite attacks from Trump and his supporters and creating an aura of mystery around his work.

All told, Mueller brought criminal charges against six of the president’s associates, including his campaign chairman and first national security adviser.

His 448-page report released in April 2019 identified substantial contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy. He laid out damaging details about Trump’s efforts to seize control of the investigation, and even shut it down, though he declined to decide whether Trump had broken the law, in part because of department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president.

But, in perhaps the most memorable language of the report, Mueller pointedly noted: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

The nebulous conclusion did not deliver the knockout punch to the administration that some Trump opponents had hoped for, nor did it trigger a sustained push by House Democrats to impeach the president — though he was later tried and acquitted on separate allegations related to Ukraine.

The outcome also left room for Attorney General William Barr to insert his own views. He and his team made their own determination that Trump did not obstruct justice, and he and Mueller privately tangled over a four-page summary letter from Barr that Mueller felt did not adequately capture his report’s damaging conclusion.

Mueller deflated Democrats during a highly anticipated congressional hearing on his report when he offered terse, one-word answers and appeared uncertain in his testimony. Frequently, he seemed to waver on details of his investigation. It was hardly the commanding performance many had expected from Mueller, who had a towering reputation in Washington.

Over the next months, Barr made clear his own disagreements with the foundations of the Russia investigation, moving to dismiss a false-statements prosecution that Mueller had brought against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, even though that investigation ended in a guilty plea.

Mueller’s tenure as special counsel was the capstone of a career spent in government.

His time as FBI director was defined by the Sept. 11 attacks and its aftermath, as an FBI granted broad new surveillance and national security powers scrambled to confront an ascendant al-Qaida and interrupt plots and take terrorists off the street before they could act.

It was a new model of policing for an FBI that had long been accustomed to investigating crimes that had already occurred.

When he became FBI director, “I had expected to focus on areas familiar to me as a prosecutor: drug cases, white-collar criminal cases and violent crime,” Mueller told a group of lawyers in October 2012.

Instead, “we had to focus on long-term, strategic change. We had to enhance our intelligence capabilities and upgrade our technology. We had to build upon strong partnerships and forge new friendships, both here at home and abroad.”

In response, the FBI shifted 2,000 of the total 5,000 agents in the bureau’s criminal programs to national security.

In hindsight, the transformation was a success. At the time, there were problems, and Mueller said as much. In a speech near the end of his tenure, Mueller recalled “those days when we were under attack by the media and being clobbered by Congress; when the attorney general was not at all happy with me.”

Among the issues: The Justice Department’s inspector general found that the FBI circumvented the law to obtain thousands of phone call records for terrorism investigations.

Mueller decided that the FBI would not take part in abusive interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists, but the policy was not effectively communicated down the line for nearly two years. In an effort to move the FBI into a paperless environment, the bureau spent over $600 million on two computer systems — one that was 2½ years overdue and a predecessor that was only partially completed and had to be scrapped after consultants declared it obsolete and riddled with problems.

For the nation’s top law enforcement agency, it was a rocky trip through rough terrain.

But there were many successes as well, including thwarted terror plots and headline-making criminal cases like the one against fraudster Bernie Madoff. The Republican also cultivated an apolitical reputation on the job, nearly quitting in a clash with the Bush administration over a surveillance program that he and his successor, James Comey, considered unlawful.

He famously stood alongside Comey, then deputy attorney general, during a dramatic 2004 hospital standoff over federal wiretapping rules. The two men planted themselves at the bedside of the ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft to block Bush administration officials from making an end run to get Ashcroft’s permission to reauthorize a secret no-warrant wiretapping program.

In an extraordinary vote of confidence, Congress, at the Obama administration’s request, approved a two-year extension for Mueller to remain at his post.

Mueller was born in New York City and grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in international relations from New York University. He then joined the Marines, serving for three years as an officer during the Vietnam War. He led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals. Following his military service, Mueller earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Mueller became a federal prosecutor and relished the work of handling criminal cases. He rose quickly through the ranks in US attorneys’ offices in San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. Later, as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, he oversaw a range of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets as varied as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York crime boss John Gotti.

In a mid-career switch that shocked colleagues, Mueller threw over a job at a prestigious Boston law firm to join the homicide division of the US attorney’s office in the nation’s capital. There, he immersed himself as a senior litigator in a bulging caseload of unsolved drug-related murders in a city rife with violence.

Mueller was driven by a career-long passion for the painstaking work of building successful criminal cases. Even as head of the FBI, he would dig into the details of investigations, some of them major cases, but others less so, sometimes surprising agents who suddenly found themselves on the phone with the director.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/glad-hes-dead-trump-on-death-of-ex-fbi-chief-robert-mueller-who-probed-his-alleged-ties-with-russia-11248627?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

This week’s ban on alcohol in Damascus has sparked a debate among Syrians. Some say it’s about more than just being able to have a drink: It’s about the country’s future governance, personal freedoms and community unity.

This week, municipal authorities in Damascus banned the sale of alcohol in most of the city. Bars and restaurants that have served alcohol there for decades will no longer be allowed to, and it will only be possible to buy alcohol in closed bottles in a handful of Christian-majority neighborhoods, to take away.

This isn’t all that unusual in the Middle East — practicing Muslims are not supposed to imbibe “intoxicating” substances while individuals of the Christian faith may. That is why liquor stores and bars, if there are any, are often found in traditionally Christian neighborhoods around the region.

However, such a ban is atypical for Damascus. The Syrian capital has had alcohol sales regulations for years but didn’t fully police them, partially because the country’s rulers until late 2024, the authoritarian Assad family, prioritized nationalism and secularism over religious rules.

This is why the alcohol ban in Damascus is causing so much debate among Syrians.

“The news was both surprising and upsetting,” said Angela Alsahwi, a Damascene who works as a media producer. “Damascus has historically been a city that embraces everyone and diversity is its true identity. This decision makes us feel like we’re losing a part of the city’s open spirit. It’s not just about the drink itself,” she told DW, “but about freedom of choice.”

A sectarian rule

There are other arguments against the ban too. Syria’s economy is in terrible shape and the closure of bars and restaurants will result in hundreds of lost jobs. Tourism is also needed, and critics believe the ban could discourage foreign visitors.

The fact that sales are restricted to Christian areas is also seen as problematic because it encourages a kind of sectarianism, others argue.

“Those who drafted, signed and discussed this decision clearly do not understand the social fabric of Syria,” argued Roba Hanna, a pro-democracy activist who fled to Canada during the country’s 14-year civil war and recently returned. “Not all Christians drink — many don’t touch alcohol at all — while some Muslims do. Discriminating against areas with a Christian majority is wrong. By linking alcohol consumption to violating public morals, you have essentially stigmatized some of your own citizens as indecent. It’s disgraceful.”

On Friday, Social Affairs Minister Hind Kabawat Hind Kabawat, a Christian, posted a similar message on Facebook in support of the Christian community. “Our neighborhoods are not places for alcohol, but the heart of Damascus,” she argued.

Damascus authorities explained the ban was necessary because of complaints by residents. But as Alsahwi points out, most of the bars in question have actually been there for decades.

Of course, there are also plenty of Syrians who support the ban. “We are a country with a Muslim majority,” one local wrote on social media. “It is not suitable for us to sell liquor on our streets. The decision protects our children and their future.”

Some Syrians also believe the ban helps protect their own culture from “corrupting” Western influences.

And finally, there are also many who believe the whole debate is frivolous in the country’s difficult, postwar circumstances.

“Engaging in debates over alcohol only shows your disconnect from reality,” claimed Mahmoud al-Khatab, a jeweler originally from Aleppo. “It’s the class that thrived under the previous regime that’s worried about this. But those who endured the horrors of war, they don’t care. They are worried about how to feed their families.”

Cause for concern

But in fact, observers warn, there are other reasons to be worried about the alcohol ban beyond immediate impacts.

“The alcohol debate […] is not merely about a beverage or lifestyle. It symbolizes deeper questions about governance, societal values and the balance between religious and secular ideologies,” Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian pro-democracy activist now based in the US, previously wrote in an op-ed for the online magazine, Newlines when an alcohol ban was first discussed in 2024.

Now the same questions are being asked again — mainly because Damascus’ alcohol ban is the latest in a growing number of restrictions grounded in ideas about “public morality.”

Last summer, the Syrian government issued an advisory saying men and women should wear modest swimwear at public beaches and pools.

In January, a municipality in southwestern Syria, Wadi Barada, said local restaurants could no longer host mixed-gender groups. The same month, al-Tal, a town near Damascus, banned men from working in stores selling womenswear to “uphold public decency.”

In February, local authorities in Latakia made international headlines when they banned female civil servants from wearing makeup at work.

“On its own, the policy might seem trivial — a minor administrative rule governing workplace conduct — but taken in context, it is anything but,” Haid Haid, a consulting fellow with UK think tank, Chatham House, wrote about the makeup ban for online magazine, Al Majalla. “Read alongside a series of recent measures, the ban reflects worrying signs of a growing tendency for state officials to intervene in personal life.”

Most of these controversial decisions are also being made at the municipal level even while the national government has promised to respect personal freedoms.

“There must be clarity regarding the powers of a governor so citizens know their rights,” Damascus activist Hanna argued. “We’re not against regulation. But a mature, adult Syrian citizen doesn’t need guardianship.”

Promises on personal freedom

Most of the members of Syria’s interim government, including Prime Minister Ahmad al-Sharaa, were previously in power in the northern Syrian region of Idlib.

Idlib was controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the rebel group led by al-Sharaa, which toppled the Assad regime in late 2024. Although HTS did moderate its policies, it was very conservative for years and formerly allied with extremist Islamist groups.

For example, Idlib had several versions of a religious, or morality, policing unit, which controlled women’s clothing and the sale of cigarettes or musical instruments, among other things. But the unit’s work was phased out by 2023, partially because locals opposed it.

In late 2024, al-Sharaa told the BBC that Syria was not about to become Afghanistan under the Taliban. His government wouldn’t impose Islamic law on minorities, he stated, although he wouldn’t say whether alcohol would be banned.

Will all of Syria be run like Idlib?

This is why some Syrians are so worried that the alcohol ban is a sign of more restrictions to come.

It may be, said Rahaf Aldoughli, a lecturer in Middle East and North African studies at the UK’s Lancaster University.

“The alcohol ban is not just about alcohol,” Aldoughli told DW. “Ultimately, the ban is more about how authority is being constructed, through the regulation of everyday life and through the ongoing struggle to define what Syria should become.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/why-syrias-new-alcohol-ban-is-about-much-more-than-beer/a-76457547

Despite not being recognized by Germany, the Taliban have appointed a new head of the Afghan embassy in Berlin without the German government’s approval, broadcaster ARD reported.

A Taliban member has been appointed the head of the Afghan embassy in Berlin without the German government’s knowledge, public broadcaster ARD reported on Saturday.

The unilateral move appears to highlight the Islamist group’s efforts to assert control over Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions abroad, despite lacking official recognition from almost all of the world’s nations, including Germany.

Under the 1961 Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations, before an ambassador or head of mission takes up a role, the receiving country is required to approve the appointment.

What do we know?

A man, named by ARD as Nebrasul H,, is one of two low-level Afghan consular officials to arrive in Berlin last July to help prepare deportations of failed asylum seekers to Afghanistan.

The German government had approved his appointment in that role, ARD said.

However, the broadcaster alleges that Nebarsul H. was also secretly recruited to lead the Afghan embassy in Berlin.

The broadcaster said it had obtained confidential documents showing that Nebrasaul H. acts and signs as charge d’affaires — a diplomat who heads an embassy or diplomatic mission in place of a full ambassador.

ARD said the documents show that he is named as charge d’affaires within the Berlin embassy and during contact with Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul.

The public broadcaster said he acts as a kind of Taliban “ambassador,” noting that Germany is now the only EU member state where the Islamist group is effectively running an embassy.

Berlin not informed

The broadcaster said the German government was unaware of his more senior role, citing a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying there had been “no notification of any personnel changes at the Afghan diplomatic missions in Germany.”

Germany does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Government officials have repeatedly said that Berlin wants to ensure that Afghan missions are led by governments that preceded the Taliban, which seized control in August 2021 as US and NATO forces withdrew.

Ghani’s appointee secretly demoted

ARD also described how the man previously in the role, Abdul P., is now merely a figurehead, who was stripped of his powers and demoted in January.

Diplomatic sources told the broadcaster that he was not considered trustworthy enough as he was appointed by Afghanistan’s pre-Taliban government of US-backed President Ashraf Ghani.

ARD said the announcement of a new diplomat was meant to be kept secret from Germany’s government until March, citing a letter from the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry had originally intended to recall Abdul P. to Afghanistan, but he convinced them that he was still needed due to his experience.

Abdul P. has even been allowed to continue living in the ambassador’s residence in Berlin’s upscale Zehlendorf district and drives a car with diplomatic license plates, the report said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-install-new-diplomat-without-telling-germany-report/a-76468553

From Nordic trust to Costa Rica’s sense of community, residents explain what daily life looks like in the countries topping the 2026 World Happiness Report.

While the Nordic countries have long dominated the World Happiness Report, 2026 brought one surprise. For the first time in the report’s 14-year history, a Latin American country made its way into the top five as Costa Rica continued its multi-year rise to fourth place, jumping from 23rd in 2023.